Vegetation cover classification in Sariska National Park and surroundings

Appraisal of spatial distribution of vegetation types is an important aspect for wildlife habitat suitability and ecological studies. Remote sensing provides quick, accurate and cost and time effective methods for vegetation cover mapping. In the present study Landsat MSS data was digitally classified into various land use/forest type classes. Forested land was about 52 per cent of the study area. Four forest types, namelyAnogeissus pendula, Boswellia serra ta, mixedAnogeissus-Butea and mixed Acacia-Zizyphus occupied 28.47 percent, 6.60 percent, 18.60 percent and 9.70 percent of the forested land, respectively. The area under National Park was 51.28 percent of total study area. About 61 percent of the Park area was under tree-covered vegetation. Overall accuracies for classified and smoothened-classified images were 89.37 percent and 91.96 percent, respectively. The vegetation of the area is controlled by topography and edaphic factors.