Remote Sensing and GIS Based Suitability Modeling of Rubia Cordifolia L. in West Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh [India]

Abstract

Rubia cordifolia L. also known as Indian madder in English and Manjista in Hindi is a tonic, antidysentric, antiseptic and the roots are used internally in the treatment of abnormal uterine bleeding, internal and external haemorrhage, bronchitis, rheumatism and stones in the kidney, bladder and gall. A transact survey was carried out mainly in the secondary forests along the roads and in the vicinity of the settlements. A total of 97 GPS points of the Rubia cordifolia were recorded in the study area. Digital Elevation Model [DEM] of the Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission [SRTM] was downloaded from the seamless server of United States Department of Agriculture [USDA]. It was used for deriving topographic parameters like altitudinal zones, slope angle, slope aspect, generic landforms and Topographic Wetness Index [TWI] which are important for the modeling of plant. Linear Image Scanning Sensor [LISS] III was used for deriving land use / land cover, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index [NDVI], Normalized Differential Water Index NDWI], Soil Brightness Index [SBI], etc. Besides, the climatic parameters like annual average rainfall, annual average temperature and annual average humidity and others like road and settlement distance were used. The whole raster data cube was submitted to Spatial Multi-Criteria Evaluation [SMCE] module of ILWIS 3.4 [GIS software developed by ITC, Enschede, and The Netherlands] for suitability modeling of targeted species. The GPS points of the plant recorded in the field were used for verifying the results. The result was satisfactory as about 89% of GPS points fall under the moderately suitable and highly suitable categories together that constitutes about 29% of the total area. This zone is the potential area of the occurrences and regeneration of Rubia cordifolia in the natural habitat.