Ecological Status of Riparian Zone of Sip River: A Tributary of River Narmada in Central Region
Kuldeep Lakhera1, Parul Gurjar1 and Vipin Vyas2
1Department of Environment Science and Limnology, Barkatullah University Bhopal – 462026 (India) 2Department of Bioscience, Barkatullah University, Bhopal - 462026 (India) *Corresponding author – kuldeeplakhera89@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Riparian zone is an interface between the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem which provides a variety of resources to the organisms. The present study was carried out on Sip River which is a tributary of River Narmada. During the study, QBR (Qualitat del Bosc de Ribera) index was used for the assessment of quality of riparian forest. It was observed that out of seven sampling stations, two stations were found in bad quality and extreme degradation on riparian habitat, three stations were found in Fair quality and strongly altered riparian habitat where as two Stations were found in Good quality and some disturbances were observed in these areas. The current status of riparian zone was due to human activities like construction, sand mining, soil mining, deforestation and expansion of crop land for agricultural activities. Livelihood dependence is the major cause of present condition of riparian zone.