LAUSR

Riverine systems are influenced by historical and current land use practices linked to alterations in the riparian zone across multiple scales. This study aims to explore the trend of spatiotemporal land cover changes and configuration along a major headstream of the river Ganges in India. Geo-spatial tools were used to quantify the changes in the landscape across a time span of 22 years. Landscape configuration was quantified by applying class level metrics using the software FRAGSTATS. A loss of 18.3% and 5.5% in the dense forest class was perceived in the upland and the riverine areas respectively aided by conversion of large contiguous forests into smaller isolated patches. Markov analysis showed that the forests in the landscape still possess inherent resilience capacity as indicated by a probability of 47% conversion of open forest class to dense forest class in future based on current land-use practices. Land cover changes and forest fragmentation can have inevitable impacts on ecological functioning and species persistence. Monitoring these changes is fundamental in planning future strategies for riverine landscape management. The present study underpins the utility of remote sensing and GIS in building useful baseline data for inaccessible mountainous landscapes at both local and regional scales.