1Academy of Climate Change Education and Research, KAU, Thrissur, Kerala, India
2Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, Kerala, India
*Email address: krishnaveniry@gmail.com
Online published on 16 February, 2017.
A study of aquatic invasive plants in the Kuttanad Wetland Ecosystem (Vembanadlake [south of Thannermukkam bund] and AC canal) using multispectral imageries was undertaken to assess the temporal variation in aquatic weed distribution, its extent and trends in the region of study. The study employed medium resolution LANDSAT imageries for mapping and monitoring of aquatic weed distribution. The digital image processing software used for image classification and area estimation of aquatic weed was ILWIS 3.3 Academic version (Integrated Land and Water Information System) by ITC. The spatiotemporal variation in aquatic invasive plants shows a cyclic trend in weed distribution. The mean distribution of aquatic weed is 3.25 km2. In monthly mean aquatic weed distributionitis seen that September month is having maximum weed distribution that is about 5.4 km2. In season wise distribution, the southwest monsoon season (5.4km2) has the maximum aquatic weed distribution, followed by winter season (4.0 km2), Northeast monsoon (3.4 km2) and summer season (2.3 km2).
Invasive plants, KWE, remote sensing, ILWIS, aquatic weeds
