Mapping of invasive plant species in Jalthal forest of Nepal using high resolution remote sensing data Regmi Aayoush Raj1,2,*, Shrestha Him Lal1, Mahatara Dipak3, Bhattarai Bipin1 1Kathmandu Forestry College, Koteshwor, Kathmandu, Nepal 2Institute of Forestry, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal 3Forest Research and Training Centre, Government of Nepal *Corresponding author email: aayoushrajregmi@gmail.com
Online Published on 18 January, 2024. Abstract Invasive alien plant species (IAPS) can have consequential impact on the plant biodiversity, growth of native plant species and functional integrity of ecosystem. For example, in the Jalthal forest with an area of about 6000 ha in Eastern Nepal, Mikania micrantha and other invasive plants dominate the forest affecting the growth of native plant species, habitat of wild animals, and plant biodiversity. However, their identification and distribution over the forest is unclear to the management authorities. To address this problem and control, we mapped the distribution of invasive plant species to identify its location over the forest area. Using a high-resolution satellite imagery of ZIYUAN-3A (ZY3A), multispectral 5.8 m and panchromatic 2.1 m. A supervised image classification was performed using ground truth data and NDVI values. Accuracy assessment was performed to find the effectiveness by using high resolution satellite image. An overall accuracy of 82% with 0.74 kappa value was obtained. Results shows that about 1900 ha of the Jalthal forest is covered by the invasive plant species. The mapping of invasive alien plant species gives the current invasion level of the study area which will help in its management as well as in predicting the future distribution of the invasive plants. Top Keywords Invasion, Invasive alien plant species, Jalthal, Mapping, NDVI, ZY3A, Remote sensing. Top |