Remote sensing to map the invasive weed, Lantana camara in forests

The present study evaluates the utility of Indian Remote Sensing Satellite data for detection, mapping and patch information extraction of the invasive weed, Lantana camara. The test site was a part of the Rajaji National Park forest in Uttarakhand. The major natural vegetation type present in the area is sal (Shorea robusta) forest. L. camara grows profusely in degraded and sparse forests in the park. The IRS LISS-IV and LISS-IV plus Cartosat-1 merged data were used to test their suitability for differentiation of Lantana from the surrounding vegetation with digital classification. The merged product facilitated maximum differentiation (96.4%) followed by LISS-IV (92.9%). Cartosat-1 (alone) resulted in poor accuracy (65%). A similar trend among data sets was seen in the identification of the number and size of Lantana patches. The study demonstrated the high potential of LISS-IV and Cartosat-1 merged data for differentiation and mapping of L. camara.