Evaluation of biological richness using Remote Sensing and GIS-A case study of Birsa Munda Zoological park, Jharkhand,India
Richa NK Sharma
Lecturer,
Email: richa_13@hotmail.com
Dr M S Nathawat
Professor and Head, Department of Remote Sensing
Birla Institute of Technology , Mesra,
Ranchi, India ,835 215
Email: msnathawat@yahoo.com
Ashok Kumar Pandey
Director, Bhagwan Birsa Zoological Park,
Ranchi, India,835219
Abstract
The Bisra Munda Zoological Park, Jharkhand, India has a spectrum of Botanical
Species. The Park is largely undisturbed since its inception. The present paper attempts to create
a locational data base map and classify the taxons according to the ICUN norms. It also
compares the biological richness to the landuse /landcover of the surrounding areas and
analyses the current scenario.
Introduction
The diversity of a system can be separated into two major components. They may differ in
number of entities referred to as "richness" or "abundance" or they may differ in the relative
abundance or importance of the entities with in them. (Solbrig, O T 1991). Unlike the temperate
and arctic areas where terrestrial species richness is comparatively low, there are acceptable
flora and fauna lists, the case of the tropics is different. (di Castri and Younes 1990• . The
Botanical Survey of India has published three volumes of "Red Data Book" which deals mainly
with plants growing in India. A need to include locational data base enlisted in the "Red Data
Book" has been stressed time and again. (Roy, P.S., Singh, S and Hedge, V.S., 2000)
The Birsa Munda Zoological Park was a protected forest before it’s inception in 1986.It was
opened to the public in 1994. The park can be divided into two sections. One section has seen
extensive human activity and hence is almost devoid of any natural vegetation. The other section
has more or less been left undisturbed. As a consequence the botanical species are left
undisturbed with in that area.
The present paper enumerates the numbers of distinct units i.e. (richness) in the Birsa Munda
Zoological Park over a period of one year and prepares a GIS based on it. It also compares the
current landuse/landcover of the neighboring area of the Park using remote Sensing Data.
Study Area
The Park is situated in the North East of Ranchi city .The Park lies within the latitude of 23° 27´
30´´ to 23° 28´7´´N and longitude of 85° 27´12´´E to 85° 27´42´´E. It covers a total area of 104
Hectares bounded partially on two sides the Sapahi River.
Methodology
Biological Richness
The study is spread over a time period of one year so as to identify the annual botanic species
growing in the park. The main objective of the study is to collect the quantitative and qualitative
information of the species, identify it within precision limits.
Stratified systematic sampling is to be adopted under which the study areas is divided into grids
of 10m x 10m, each of which will from the basic sampling units.
