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Climate change impacts on Indian Sunderbans: a time series analysis (1924–2008)

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Abstract

Climate change induced sea level rise (SLR) added with anthropogenically altered environment leads to rapid land dynamics in terms of erosion and accretion; and alteration in species diversity and productivity, more pronouncedly in sensitive ecosystems such as river deltas. Here, we tried to analyze the historical records to understand the SLR with respect to hydrological conditions, sedimentation and morphological processes. We analyzed the land transformation of few islands in Indian Sunderbans using maps and satellite images in increasing order of temporal frequency between 1924 and 2008, which revealed that both the erosion and accretion processes go hand in hand. Increase of downstream salinity due obstruction in upstream has led to decrease in transparency of water causing decrease in phytoplankton and fish, density and diversity in the central sector of Indian Sunderbans. Analysis of the above ground biomass of three dominant mangrove species (Sonneratia apetala, Avicennia alba and Excoecaria agallocha) revealed better growth in the western sector compared to the central sector. The study reveals the cumulative effect of climate change and anthropogenic disturbance on the diversity and productivity in World’s largest ecosystem; and advocates mangrove plantation and effective management of freshwater resources for conservation of the most vulnerable and sensitive ecosystem.

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Abbreviations

AD:

Anno domini

AGB:

Above ground biomass

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

AWiFS:

Advanced wide field sensor

DLRO:

Directorate of Land Records and Surveys

FCC:

False colour composite

GIS:

Geographic information system

IPCC:

International Panel for Climate Change

IRS:

Indian remote sensing satellite

LISS:

Linear imaging self-scanning sensors

t ha−1 :

Tons per hectare

UNEP:

United Nations Environmental Programme

UNESCO:

United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation

WWF:

World Wide Fund for Nature

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the Global Land Cover Facility (GLCF) website (http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/aboutUs/) for providing the Landsat MSS and TM data for the year 1975 and 1989.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Block LA-10A, Aranya Bhawan, Salt Lake, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700098, India

    Atanu Raha & Susmita Das

  2. Department of Marine Science, University of Calcutta, 35 B.C. Road, Kolkata, 700019, India

    Abhijit Mitra

  3. School of Biodiversity and Conservation of Natural Resources, Central University of Orissa, Landiguda, Koraput, Orissa, 764020, India

    Kakoli Banerjee

Authors
  1. Atanu Raha
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  2. Susmita Das
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  3. Kakoli Banerjee
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  4. Abhijit Mitra
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kakoli Banerjee.

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Raha, A., Das, S., Banerjee, K. et al. Climate change impacts on Indian Sunderbans: a time series analysis (1924–2008). Biodivers Conserv 21, 1289–1307 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-012-0260-z

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