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Rubber expansion and age-class mapping in the state of Tripura (India) 1990–2021 using multi-year and multi-sensor data

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Abstract

The present study focuses on the spread of rubber monoculture in the state of Tripura during past three decades (1990–2021) in the northeast region of India which is known for its rich biodiversity, shifting cultivation, and extensive forest dynamics. Earth observation (EO) data of seven time periods from Landsat missions (1990, 1995, 2000, 2004, and 2009) and Sentinel-2 (2016 and 2021) were the main source for mapping and were supplemented with MODIS-EVI temporal spectral profiles, GEDI-derived vegetation heights (2019), and Google Earth high-resolution historical images for additional cues to support discrimination, mapping, and accuracy assessment. The methodology for rubber used its unique phenology from spectral-temporal profile and multi-year comparison of patches and their dynamics for age-class mapping. The results indicate that in the state of Tripura (geographic area 1.08 Mha), the area under rubber increased from 0.3% in 1990 to 8.9% of the geographic area in 2021. The overall classification accuracy for the maps created for the years 1990, 1995, 2000, 2004, 2009, 2016, and 2021 was 84.2%, 83.9%, 84.8%, 88.0%, 86.0%, 86.7%, and 89.5%, respectively. New areas under rubber originated from various land cover classes including open forests, shifting cultivation lands, and scrub. Recent expansion has resulted in 84.3% of rubber plantations under the 10-year age class. Implications of this transformation of the natural landscape, biodiversity and biomass, and carbon pool assessment are discussed.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. The datasets used in the study are available from https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ and https://scihub.copernicus.eu/dhus/#/home.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate the encouragement from the Director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS). This work was completed as part of the Indian Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Assessment and Modeling (ITCAM) project, and we are grateful to the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust (IGMT) for funding.

Funding

This research has been supported by Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust (IGMT), New Delhi, to the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), IISc campus, Bengaluru.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Natural Sciences and Engineering, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Indian Institute of Science (IISC) Campus, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560012, India

    S. V. Pasha & V. K. Dadhwal

  2. Forest Biodiversity and Ecology Division, National Remote Sensing Centre, ISRO, Balanagar, Hyderabad, 500 037, India

    C. S. Reddy

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  1. S. V. Pasha
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  2. V. K. Dadhwal
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Contributions

The main manuscript text was contributed to by SVP, VKD, and CSR, and SVP prepared the figures and tables. VKD and SVP conceptualized and created the methodology framework and carried out the geospatial analysis. CSR contributed a key dataset and reviewed the manuscript. The paper was referred to by all the authors.

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Correspondence to V. K. Dadhwal.

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Pasha, S.V., Dadhwal, V.K. & Reddy, C.S. Rubber expansion and age-class mapping in the state of Tripura (India) 1990–2021 using multi-year and multi-sensor data. Environ Monit Assess 195, 348 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-10942-2

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