Assessing the changes in land use and ecosystem services in an oasis agricultural region of Yanqi Basin,Northwest China

The Yanqi Basin, one of the most productive agricultural areas, has a high population density in Xinjiang, Northwest China. Land use changes, mainly driven by oasis expansion, significantly impact ecosystem services and functions, but these effects are difficult to quantify. The valuation of ecosystem services is important to clarify the ecological and environmental changes caused by agriculturalization of oasis. This study aimed to investigate variations in ecosystem services in response to land use changes during oasis agricultural expansion activities in the Yanqi Basin from 1964 to 2009. The methods used were based on formula of ecosystem service value (ESV) and ESV coefficients. Satellite data were combined with the ESV coefficients to quantify land use changes and ecosystem service changes in the study area. Sensitivity analysis determined the effect of manipulating the coefficients on the estimated values. The results show that the total ESVs in the Yanqi Basin were $1,674, $1,692, $1,471, $1,732, and $1,603 million in 1964, 1973, 1989, 1999, and 2009, respectively. The net deline in ESV was $71 million in the past 46 years, but the ESVs of each types of landscape changed significantly. The aggregated ESVs of water areas and wetlands were approximately 80 % of the total ESV. Water supply and waste treatment were the two largest service functions and contributed approximately 65 % of the total ESV. The estimated ESVs in this study were elastic with respect to the value coefficients. Therefore, the estimations were robust in spite of uncertainties on the value coefficients. These significant changes in land use occur within the entire basin over the study period. These changes cause environmental problems, such as land degradation, vegetation degeneracy, and changes in aquatic environment.     

Quantification of the Impact of Land-Use Changes on Ecosystem Services: A Case Study in Pingbian County, China

Pingbian Miao Autonomous County is one of the poorest rural areas in China. Land-use changes, mainly driven by agricultural expansion and deforestation, may significantly impact ecosystem services and functions, but such effects are difficult to quantify. In the present study, Landsat image data were combined with the published coefficients about the world and China ecosystem to quantify land-use and ecosystem service changes in the mountainous area. A sensitivity analysis was employed to determine the effect of manipulating these coefficients on the estimated values. Our results show that during the past decades (from 1973 to 2004) forests and grasslands were converted into shrubland and cropland, respectively, resulting in a continuous decrease in ecosystem service (from 124.5 US$ × 10⁶ in 1973 to 100.4 US$ × 10⁶ in 2004). We found that the decrease of mixed forest in the study area was the largest contributor (i.e., 25.4 US$ × 10⁶) to the decline of the ecosystem service. Therefore we propose that future land-use policy should pay more attention to the crucial ecosystem functions of these forests (including tropical forest), and that it is necessary to balance the relationship between the livelihood of local farmers and environmental protection in order to maintain a healthy and stable ecosystem.     

Changes of Land Use and of Ecosystem Service Values in Sanjiang Plain, Northeast China

Agricultural activities, especially reclamation, are considered major threats to the wetland ecosystems in Sanjiang Plain, the largest concentrated area of the freshwater wetlands in China. In the past decades, the area of the cultivated land and its grain production have been increased at the cost of wetlands shrinkage. The large-scale land reclamation severely affected the ecosystems in this region. However, such effects at the regional scale are seldom evaluated quantitatively. We used three datasets of LANDSAT MSS and/or TM imagery to estimate the area changes and the transition of land use types from 1980 to 2000. We also valued changes in ecosystem services delivered by each land category using value coefficients published by Costanza et al. [Nature 387, 1997, 253–260]. Sensitivity analysis suggested that these estimates were relatively robust. Finally, the contribution of various ecosystem functions was ranked to the overall value of the ecosystem services in this study. According to our estimates, the total annual ecosystem service values in Sanjiang Plain have declined by about 40% between 1980 and 2000 ($156284–182572.18 million in total over 20 years). This substantial decline is largely attributed to the 53.4% loss of wetlands. For individual ecosystem functions, waste treatment, water supply and disturbance regulation account for more than 60% to the total ecological values. During those two decades, the contribution of disturbance regulation, cultural and recreation decreased, while the contribution of water regulation, nutrient cycling, food production, raw materials and climate regulation increased during the same period. We also put forward a few proposals concerning the future land use policy formulation and sustainable ecosystems. They are adjusting the ‘food first’ agricultural policy, establishing more nature reserves for wetlands, creating systems for the rational use of water, harnessing the degraded cultivated land and encouraging eco-tourism.     

Impact of urbanization on natural ecosystem service values: a comparative study

With rapid population growth and rural to-urban migration in many Chinese cities, a large amount of natural lands have been converted to urban and agricultural lands recently. During this process of land conversion, economic development and quality of life improvement are considered as major goals, and their influences on ecological systems have often been neglected. The degradation of natural ecological systems due to land use change, however, has become severe,and may require immediate attentions from urban planners and local governments. Taking HaDaQi industrial corridor, Heilongjiang Province, China,as a case study area, this paper examined the trend of land use changes during 1990–2005, and quantified their influences on natural eco system service values. In particular, this study applied two major valuation methods, and examined whether different valuation methods generate significantly different results. Analysis of results suggests that human dominated land uses (e.g., urban and agriculture)have expanded rapidly at the cost of natural lands (e.g., wetlands and forest). Due to these land use changes, the total ecosystem service value decreased 29% (2.26% annually) from 1990 to 2005 when the first method was applied, and this rate is estimated to be 15.7% (1.13% annually)with the second approach. Moreover, the annual rate of ecosystem service value decline during 2000–2005 is about four times higher than that in 1990–2000 with both methods, suggesting much more severe ecosystem degradation during 2000–2005.     

Land use pattern, socio-economic development, and assessment of their impacts on ecosystem service value: study on natural wetlands distribution area (NWDA) in Fuzhou city, southeastern China

This paper quantifies the allocation of ecosystem services value (ESV) associated with land use pattern and qualitatively examined impacts of land use changes and socio-economic factors on spatiotemporal variation of ESV in the Natural Wetland Distribution Area (NWDA), Fuzhou city, China. The results showed that total ESV of the study area decreased from 4,332.16?×?10⁶ RMB Yuan in 1989 to 3,697.42?×?10⁶ RMB Yuan in 2009, mainly due to the remarkable decreases in cropland (decreased by 55.3 %) and wetland (decreased by 74.2 %). Forest, water, and wetland played major roles in providing ecosystem services, accounting for over 90 % of the total ESV. Based on time series Landsat TM/ETM+ imagery, geographic information system, and historical data, analysis of the spatiotemporal variation of ESV from 1989 to 2009 was performed. It indicated that rapid expansion of urban areas along the Minjiang River resulted in significant changes in land use types, leading to a dramatic decline in ecosystem services. Meanwhile, because of land scarcity and unique ecosystem functions, the emergency of wetland and cropland protection in built-up area has become an urgent task of local authorities to the local government. Furthermore, there was still a significant negative correlation between ESV of cropland and wetland and the GDP. The results suggest that future planning of land use pattern should control encroachment of urban areas into cropland and wetland in addition to scientific and rational policies towards minimizing the adverse effects of urbanization.     

Impact of land use and land cover changes on ecosystem services in Menglun, Xishuangbanna, Southwest China

Changing the landscape has serious environmental impacts affecting the ecosystem services, particularly in the tropics. In this paper, we report changes in ecosystem services in relation to land use and land cover over an 18-year period (1988--2006) in the Menglun Township, Xishuangbanna, Southwest China. We used Landsat TM/ETM and Quickbird data sets to estimate changes in ten land use and land cover categories, and generalized value coefficients to estimate changes in the ecosystem services provided by each land category. The results showed that over the 18-year period, the land use and land cover in the study area experienced significant changes. Rubber plantations increased from 12.10% of total land cover to 45.63%, while forested area and swidden field decreased from 48.73 and 13.14 to 27.57 and 0.46%, respectively. During this period, the estimated value of ecosystem services dropped by US $11.427 million (approximately 27.73%). Further analysis showed that there were significant changes in ecological functions such as nutrient cycling, erosion control, climate regulation and water treatment as well as recreation; the obvious increase in the ecological function is provision of raw material (natural rubber). Our findings conclude that an abrupt shift in land use from ecologically important tropical forests and traditionally managed swidden fields to large-scale rubber plantations result in a great loss of ecosystem services in this area. Further, the study suggests that provision of alternative economic opportunities would help in maintaining ecosystem services and for an appropriate compensation mechanisms need to be established based on rigorous valuation.     

银川市城市生态服务功能价值的变化分析

生态系统服务价值的研究是目前生态学研究的热点之一。本文基于生态系统服务功能价值理论,根据银川市土地利用变化的情况,定量估算了其土地生态系统为人类提供服务的经济价值。结果表明,1996—2006年银川市生态系统服务价值变化的总态势是先增后减,生态系统服务功能在城市化过程中受到较大的影响。     

Soil disturbance/restoration effects on stream sediment loading in the Tahoe Basin—detection monitoring

Quantifying the relative impacts of soil restoration or disturbance on watershed daily sediment and nutrients loads is essential towards assessing the actual costs/benefits of the land management. Such quantification requires stream monitoring programs capable of detecting changes in land-use or soil functional and erosive area “connectivity” conditions across the watershed. Previously, use of a local-scale, field-data based runoff and erosion model for three Lake Tahoe west-shore watersheds as a detection monitoring “proof of concept” suggested that analyses of midrange average daily flows can reveal sediment load reductions of relatively small watershed fractional areas (～5 %) of restored soil function within a few years of treatment. Developing such an effective stream monitoring program is considered for tributaries on the west shore of the Lake Tahoe Basin using continuous (15-min) stream monitoring information from Ward (2,521 ha), Blackwood (2,886 ha), and the Homewood (260 ha, HMR) Creek watersheds. The continuous total suspended sediment (TSS) and discharge monitoring confirmed the hysteretic TSS concentration—flowrate relationship associated with the daily and seasonal spring snowmelt hydrographs at all three creeks. Using the complete dataset, daily loads estimated from 1-h sampling periods during the day indicated that the optimal sampling hours were in the afternoon during the rising limb of the spring snowmelt hydrograph, an observation likely to apply across the Sierra Nevada and other snowmelt driven watersheds. Measured rising limb sediment loads were used to determine if soils restoration efforts (e.g., dirt road removal, ski run rehabilitation) at the HMR creek watershed reduced sediment loads between 2010 and 2011. A nearly 1.5-fold decrease in sediment yields (kg/ha per m³/s flow) was found suggesting that this focused monitoring approach may be useful towards development of TMDL “crediting” tools. Further monitoring is needed to verify these observations and confirm the value of this approach.     

Coastline change assessment on water reservoirs located in the Konya Basin Area, Turkey, using multitemporal landsat imagery

This paper focuses mainly on the coastline change assessment on water reservoirs located in the Konya Basin Area, Turkey. The Konya Closed Basin exists at the Central Anatolia Region and covers a region of 50,000 km² area corresponding to the 7% cumulative area of Turkey in which three million people live, 45% in rural areas and 55% in urban areas. The basin is surrounded with the city centers of Konya, Aksaray, Karaman, Isparta, Ni?de, Ankara, Nev?ehir, and Antalya cities. In this study, these changes were examined using Landsat TM and ETM+ 1987–2006 and 1990–2000. In the image processing step, image and vectorization of the satellite images were carried out to monitor coastline changes over the lakes located in the Konya Closed Basin Area. At the end of the study, significant coastline movements were detected for a 19-year period due to drought effects, agricultural watering, and planning mistakes experienced in the basin.     

Assessing land take by urban development and its impact on carbon storage: Findings from two case studies in Italy

Land take due to urbanization triggers a series of negative environmental impacts with direct effects on quality of life for people living in cities. Changes in ecosystem services are associated with land take, among which is the immediate C loss due to land use conversion. Land use change monitoring represents the first step in quantifying land take and its drivers and impacts. To this end, we propose an innovative methodology for monitoring land take and its effects on ecosystem services (in particular, C loss) under multi-scale contexts. The devised approach was tested in two areas with similar sizes, but different land take levels during the time-span 1990–2008 in Central Italy (the Province of Rome and the Molise Region). The estimates of total coverage of built up areas were calculated using point sampling. The area of the urban patches including each sampling point classified as built up areas in the year 1990 and/or in the year 2008 is used to estimate total abundance and average area of built up areas. Biophysical and economic values for carbon loss associated with land take were calculated using InVEST.Although land take was 7–8 times higher in the Province of Rome (from 15.1% in 1990 to 20.4% in 2008) than in Molise region, our findings show that its relative impact on C storage is higher in the latter, where the urban growth consistently affects not only croplands but also semi-natural land uses such as grasslands and other wooded lands. The total C loss due to land take has been estimated in 1.6 million Mg C, corresponding to almost 355 million €.Finally, the paper discusses the main characteristics of urban growth and their ecological impact leading to risks and challenges for future urban planning and land use policies.     

Global methane emissions from the world coal industry

The Coal Industry Advisory Board (CIAB) of the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated the total methane emissions from worldwide mining, treatment and storage of coal to be approximately 25 million tonnes/year for 1990. Slightly more than one million tonnes of methane are utilized by the industry. Thus, the net annual discharge to the atmosphere is 24 million tonnes. Methane emissions data were available for the U.S., the U.K., former U.S.S.R., Australia, China, Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia. Methane emissions for India and S. Africa were estimated from a linear correlation between the average depth of mining and specific methane emissions derived from the available data for the eight countries. These ten largest coal producing countries represented nearly 90% of world coal production in 1990. Total methane emissions for the world coal industry were calculated by prorating the methane emissions from these ten countries in proportion to coal production.The reported values represent the best international data available at present. The net total emissions of 24 million tonnes/year are substantially less than some previously reported indirect estimations and constitute only 4 to 6% of the global methane emissions.     

Exploring spatial change and gravity center movement for ecosystem services value using a spatially explicit ecosystem services value index and gravity model

Spatially explicit ecosystem services valuation and change is a newly developing area of research in the field of ecology. Using the Beijing region as a study area, the authors have developed a spatially explicit ecosystem services value index and implemented this to quantify and spatially differentiate ecosystem services value at 1-km grid resolution. A gravity model was developed to trace spatial change in the total ecosystem services value of the Beijing study area from a holistic point of view. Study results show that the total value of ecosystem services for the study area decreased by 19.75% during the period 1996?C2006 (3,226.2739 US$ × 10⁶ in 1996, 2,589.0321 US$ × 10⁶ in 2006). However, 27.63% of the total area of the Beijing study area increased in ecosystem services value. Spatial differences in ecosystem services values for both 1996 and 2006 are very clear. The center of gravity of total ecosystem services value for the study area moved 32.28 km northwestward over the 10 years due to intensive human intervention taking place in southeast Beijing. The authors suggest that policy-makers should pay greater attention to ecological protection under conditions of rapid socio-economic development and increase the area of green belt in the southeastern part of Beijing.     

Quantifying the effect of trend,fluctuation, and extreme event of climate change on ecosystem productivity

Climate change comprises three fractions of trend, fluctuation, and extreme event. Assessing the effect of climate change on terrestrial ecosystem requires an understanding of the action mechanism of these fractions, respectively. This study examined 11 years of remotely sensed-derived net primary productivity (NPP) to identify the impacts of the trend and fluctuation of climate change as well as extremely low temperatures caused by a freezing disaster on ecosystem productivity in Hunan province, China. The partial least squares regression model was used to evaluate the contributions of temperature, precipitation, and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) to NPP variation. A climatic signal decomposition and contribution assessment model was proposed to decompose climate factors into trend and fluctuation components. Then, we quantitatively evaluated the contributions of each component of climatic factors to NPP variation. The results indicated that the total contribution of the temperature, precipitation, and PAR to NPP variation from 2001 to 2011 in Hunan province is 85 %, and individual contributions of the temperature, precipitation, and PAR to NPP variation are 44 % (including 34 % trend contribution and 10 % fluctuation contribution), 5 % (including 4 % trend contribution and 1 % fluctuation contribution), and 36 % (including 30 % trend contribution and 6 % fluctuation contribution), respectively. The contributions of temperature fluctuation-driven NPP were higher in the north and lower in the south, and the contributions of precipitation trend-driven NPP and PAR fluctuation-driven NPP are higher in the west and lower in the east. As an instance of occasionally triggered disturbance in 2008, extremely low temperatures and a freezing disaster produced an abrupt decrease of NPP in forest and grass ecosystems. These results prove that the climatic trend change brought about great impacts on ecosystem productivity and that climatic fluctuations and extreme events can also alter the ecosystem succession process, even resulting in an alternative trajectory. All of these findings could improve our understanding of the impacts of climate change on the provision of ecosystem functions and services and can also provide a basis for policy makers to apply adaptive measures to overcome the unfavorable influence of climate change.     

基于改进生态价值当量的长株潭地区生态补偿空间选择

以长株潭地区为研究对象,基于改进生态价值当量计算研究区域的生态系统服务价值,结合区域经济社会发展水平探讨研究区域的生态补偿优先级,并以2002年、2008年、2014年作为典型年份研究长株潭地区生态补偿的空间选择。研究表明:长株潭地区2002—2014年间生态系统服务价值(ESV)呈现持续下降趋势。通过敏感性分析可知,长株潭地区生态系统服务总价值对于价值系数相对稳定,研究结果可信。长株潭地区各县(市、区)的生态服务价值和生态补偿优先级存在较大的空间差异,2014年度长沙市、株洲市、湘潭市市辖区域及长沙县、望城区应率先进行生态支付。     

Land use/land cover change and their effects on landscape patterns in the Yanqi Basin, Xinjiang (China)

Human modification of land use and land cover change (LUCC) drives the change of landscape patterns and limits the availability of products and services for human and livestock. LUCC can undermine environmental health. Thus, this study aimed to develop an understanding of LUCC in the Yanqi Basin, Xinjiang, China, an arid area experiencing dramatic water and land resource use. A time series of satellite images (1964, 1973, 1989, 1999, and 2009) were used to calculate the index of landscape patterns to study the processes involved in changes to land uses and landscape patterns and the influence of this changes on landscape patterns. The results show that land uses in the Yanqi Basin have changed dramatically since 1964 with grassland being mainly converted to cropland. Landscape fragmentation and diversity have decreased in the study area, although landscape fragmentation increased from 1964 to 1999 and then decreased by 2009. The index of landscape diversity decreased from 1.64 in 1964 to 0.71 in 2009. The heterogeneity and complexity of the landscape increased during this period. In contrast, the index of dominance decreased from 0.85 in 1964 to 0.83 in 2009. Land use change drives landscape patterns of the development of the watershed toward diversity and a fragmented structure. Population growth, economic development, and industrial policies were the dominant driving forces behind LUCC in the Yanqi Basin. Sustainable use of land resources is a significant factor in maintaining economic development and environmental protection in this arid inland river basin.     

Levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the Densu River Basin of Ghana

The concentrations of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Densu River Basin in Ghana were measured using gas chromatograph. Surface water samples were collected from nine stations, namely, Potroase, Koforidua Intake, Suhyien, Mangoase, Asuboi, Nsawam Bridge, Afuaman, Ashalaga, and Weija Intake in the Densu Basin. Total PAH concentrations varied from 13.0 to 80.0 ??g/mL in the Densu River, with a mean value of 37.1 ??g/mL. The two- to three-ring PAHs (low-molecular-weight PAHs) were found to be dominant in the Densu River Basin. Total PAH concentrations showed the following pattern: Koforidua Intake (80.0 ??g/mL) > Asuboi (50.8 ??g/mL) > Afuaman (47.9 ??g/mL) > Weija Intake (45.0 ??g/mL) > Suhyien (27.6 ??g/mL) > Nsawam (23.5 ??g/mL) > Ashalaja (22.9 ??g/mL) > Potroase (23.3 ??g/mL) > Mangoase (13.0 ??g/mL). According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), background levels of PAHs in drinking water supplies in the USA range from 0.004 to 0.024 ??g/mL. PAH levels from all sites exceeded the range set by ATSDR. B[a]P contributed the highest carcinogenic exposure equivalent (0.3 ??g/mL), followed by B[a]A (0.132 ??g/mL) and B[b]F (0.08 ??g/mL), contributing 52.6%, 23.2%, and 4.6%, respectively, of the total carcinogenicity of surface water PAH in the Densu River Basin. The carcinogenic potency was estimated to be 0.57 ??g/mL. The presence of PAHs was an indication of the water sources being contaminated, with potential health implications.     

Water Quality Modeling of Municipal Discharges from Sea Outfalls,Mumbai

The island city of Mumbai with a population of about 10 million generates about 2000 million liters per day (mld) of sewage from the seven service areas of the city sewerage network and discharges it into the adjoining west coast and the two creeks in the Arabian Sea. This has resulted in degradation of coastal water quality, contamination of the adjoining beaches and seafronts. The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai has therefore, undertaken the task of delineating appropriate sewage disposal system to achieve cleaner marine ecosystem through marine outfalls at specific locations. This paper presents the results of the mathematical simulations on the impacts of discharge is-a-vis the length of the outfall and level of land treatment apriori. The results of the simulation indicate the level of bacterial pollution to be higher near the diffuser locations as compared to nearshore regions. 48 hsimulation result analysis shows that FC counts nearthe diffuser location will be in the range of 2000–8000 counts per 100 ml.     

Monitoring the changes in impervious surface ratio and urban heat island intensity between 1987 and 2011 in Szeged,Hungary

Landsat time series data make it possible to continuously map and examine urban land cover changes and effects on urban environments. The objectives of this study are (1) to map and analyse an impervious surface and its changes within a census district and (2) to monitor the effects of increasing impervious surface ratios on population and environment. We used satellite images from 1987, 2003 and 2011 to map the impervious surface ratio in the census district of Szeged, Hungary through normalized spectral mixture analysis. Significant increases were detected from 1987 to 2011 in industrial areas (5.7–9.1%) and inner residential areas (2.5–4.8%), whereas decreases were observed in the city centre and housing estates due to vegetation growth. Urban heat island (UHI) values were derived from the impervious surface fraction map to analyse the impact of urban land cover changes. In 2011, the average value in the industrial area was 1.76 °C, whereas that in the inner residential area was 1.35–1.69 °C. In the city centre zones and housing estates, values ranging from 1.4 to 1.5 °C and from 1.29 to 1.5 °C, respectively, were observed. Our study reveals that long-term land cover changes can be derived at the district level from Landsat images and that their effects can be identified and analysed, providing important information for city planners and policy makers.     

Stream sediment and nutrient loads in the Tahoe Basin—estimated vs monitored loads for TMDL “crediting”

Total maximum daily load (TMDL) programs utilize pollutant load reductions as the primary strategy to restore adversely affected waters of the USA. Accurate and defensible “crediting” for TMDL reductions of sediment and nutrients requires stream monitoring programs capable of quantitative assessment of soil erosivity and the “connectivity” between erosive areas and stream channels across the watershed. Using continuous (15-min) stream monitoring information from typical alpine, snowmelt-driven watersheds [Ward (2,521 ha), Blackwood (2,886 ha), and Homewood (260 ha, Homewood Mountain Resort—HMR) Creeks] on the west shore of the Lake Tahoe Basin, daily sediment (and nutrient for HMR) loads are determined and compared with those developed from estimated load–flow relationships developed from grab sampling data. Compared to the previously estimated sediment load–discharge relationships, measured curves were slightly below those estimated, though not significantly so at Blackwood and Ward Creeks in the period 1997–2002. Based on average daily flowrates determined from calibrated hydrologic modeling during the period 1994–2004, average daily flowrate frequency distributions per year are determined from which load reduction “crediting” towards TMDL targets can be evaluated. Despite seemingly similar estimated and measured sediment load–flow relationships, annual “estimated” loads exceeded those “measured” by about 40 % for Ward and Blackwood Creeks and over 300 times for HMR Creek. Similarly, though less dramatic, estimated annual nutrient loads at HMR Creek exceeded those measured by 1.7 and 6 times for total nitrogen and total phosphorus, respectively. Such results indicate that actual measured load–flow relationships are likely necessary for realistic quantitative and defensible TMDL crediting.     

Growing stock and woody biomass assessment in Asola-Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary,Delhi, India

Biomass is an important entity to understand the capacity of an ecosystem to sequester and accumulate carbon over time. The present study, done in collaboration with the Delhi Forest Department, focused on the estimation of growing stock and the woody biomass in the so-called lungs of Delhi—the Asola-Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Aravalli hills. The satellite-derived vegetation strata were field-inventoried using stratified random sampling procedure. Growing stock was calculated for the individual sample plots using field data and species-specific volume equations. Biomass was estimated from the growing stock and the specific gravity of the wood. Among the four vegetation types, viz. Prosopis juliflora, Anogeissus pendula, forest plantation and the scrub, the P. juliflora was found to be the dominant vegetation in the area, covering 23.43 km² of the total area. The study revealed that P. juliflora forest with moderate density had the highest (10.7 m³/ha) while A. pendula forest with moderate density had the lowest (3.6 m³/ha) mean volume. The mean woody biomass was also found to be maximum in P. juliflora forest with moderate density (10.3 t/ha) and lowest in A. pendula forest with moderate density (3.48 t/ha). The total growing stock was estimated to be 20,772.95 m³ while total biomass worked out to be 19,366.83 t. A strong correlation was noticed between the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the growing stock (R ²?=?0.84)/biomass (R ²?=?0.88). The study demonstrated that growing stock and the biomass of the woody vegetation in Asola-Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary could be estimated with high accuracy using optical remote sensing data.