Ecological Perspective

Assessment & Monitoring of Agricultural Drought Indices Using Remote Sensing Techniques and their Inter-Comparison

2023-02-24T18:00:49+00:00

Agricultural drought is nothing but the decline in the productivity of crops due to irregularities in the rainfall as well as decrease in the soil moisture, which in turn affects the economy of the nation. As the Indian agriculture is largely dependent on the Monsoon, a slight change in it affects the production as well as the crop yield drastically. The agricultural drought monitoring, assessment as well as management can be done more accurately with the help of geospatial techniques like Remote Sensing. In present study agriculture drought is estimated in vadodara district. The purpose of the study is to analyze the vegetation stress in the Vadodara district with the calculation of NDVI, NDWI, MNDWI, WRI, NDBI and NDSI indices values. The results of NDVI values shows agricultural fields more susceptible to drought. Similarly, decreasing trend was observed in NDWI index which is 22.12% to 19.3% from 2013 to 2018.The builtup index (NDBI) is increasing by 1.85% in last 5 years. The Water ratio index is also showing decreasing trend in study area by 22.35% to 14.29%. The intercomparisions of NDVI and all other indices with rainfall data provides very useful information for agricultural drought monitoring and early warning system for the farmers. The findings of this research will be of interest to local agriculture authorities, like plantation and meteorology departments to understand drier areas in the state to evaluate water deficits severity and cloud seeding points during drought.

Dry and Wet Period Analysis using Meteorological Drought Indices in Sabarkantha district Gujarat, India

2023-02-24T17:48:45+00:00

Drought assessment is very important to manage water resources in lean period. In the present study, identification of drought years and extent of deficit of annual rainfall is accomplished by use of three meteorological based drought indices like the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration index (SPEI), China-Z index (CZI) and Modified China-Z index (MCZI) on 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 month (short term and long term) timescales using monthly precipitation and temperature data from 1901 to 2002 at Sabarkantha to specify the drought conditions in present study area. The analysis of multiple time steps in drought indices make it harder to decide the best time step to show the drought conditions. The months of January, March, November and December have been identified 76, 79, 77 and 80 times as drought months respectively in the 20th century, indicating that these months must be provided with assured Irrigation. It is observed that 1904, 1911, 1915, 1923, 1974, 1987 and 2002 affected by severe drought condition in SPEI-12. The China Z Index and Modified China Z index shows that’s 1904, 1911, 1915, 1918, 1923, 1948, 1951, 1965, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1974, 1985, 1987, 1991, 1995 and 2002 affected by extreme drought. The study also reveals that only 1% year obtain as extreme wet conditions. From result it shows that 23% years are categorised into moderate to extreme drought years, which includes 15% Moderate dry, 8% severe dry years.

An Investigation of the Regulatory Ecosystem Services Provided by Urban Trees on Campuses: Case of Aydın Adnan Menderes University

2023-09-12T17:19:59+00:00

The aim of the study is to analyse the regulatory ecosystem services provided by the tree cover in the university campuses, where the impact on the environment is becoming increasingly important, and the monetary values related to these, through the case of Aydın Adnan Menderes University central campus, and make suggestions for its future. In the realization of the study, 7 land cover types and their areal distributions were evaluated over a total of 2160 random points using the web-based i-Tree Canopy application. As a result, the tree crown cover, which constitutes 12.73% of the study area, removes a total of 771.52 kg of gas and particulate pollutants from the air ($8,802), the estimated annual carbon captured by the crown cover is 34.98 tons, and the total carbon stored by the crown cover is calculated as 878.44 tons ($294,736). The total estimated economic value delivered by all regulatory services is $303,537. Compared to other studies carried out in our country, the lack of tree cover on the central campus of Aydın Adnan Menderes University draws attention. However, considering that it has a great potential to increase tree cover, it can be stated that it has a good potential in terms of regulatory ecosystem services and the economic benefits they will bring both for the campus and for the whole city.

Road Planting in Urban Design The Example of Adnan Menderes Boulevard (Aydın)

2023-08-06T17:06:01+00:00

Urban street planting forms a significant part of open green spaces, providing numerous aesthetic and functional contributions. Effective and systematic landscaping activities on urban roads, medians, and pedestrian paths contribute to the formation of the urban open green system, connecting urban and rural areas.

This study was conducted on Adnan Menderes Boulevard, which is one of the heavily used axes in the city center of Aydın. The typology and features of the road, the locations, types, quantities, and botanical characteristics of the plants were determined in the study. The aesthetic and functional functions of the plants used were evaluated. Problems experienced on the boulevard were examined under three headings (growing area, appropriate species selection, maintenance).

A total of 27 plant species were identified in the study area, 10 of which are trees, 9 shrubs, 4 vines, 4 groundcovers and seasonal. It has been observed that there are deficiencies in design, application and maintenance processes and suggestions were presented for Adnan Menderes Boulevard in line with the findings.

Land Use/Land Cover and Change Detection of Isparta Eğirdir Lake Basin Using Sentinel 2 Satellite Images

2023-12-28T09:20:27+00:00

Land use and land cover (LULC) change is a global environmental issue significantly impacting sustainable development and environmental quality. The process of analyzing LULC change involves remote sensing and GIS using machine learning techniques. This study aims to analyze the LULC change in the Isparta Eğirdir Lake basin, a crucial ecosystem and economic resource in Turkey, considering its biodiversity, agricultural potential, touristic value, and water resources. Sentinel 2A satellite images with a spatial resolution of 10m from 2015 to 2023 were used for the analysis. NDVI, NDWI, and NDBI analyses, along with a supervised classification method, were employed to identify the direction and magnitude of the change. As a result, the surface area of Lake Eğirdir, Turkey's second-largest freshwater lake, is gradually decreasing, with a noticeable withdrawal of 50-60 meters, particularly in the Hoyran section of the lake.