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CHAPTER III

LAND USE AND LAND COVER OF THE LPA OF MYSORE CITY

The Land use and land cover within an area is varied. With the knowledge of

the present land use pattern the issue of solid waste management would be

successfully studied. Every land use type produces different kinds of solid waste. The

category and quantity of solid waste of that area is caused by the resultant of the

change in land use and land cover. This chapter would cover the results of land use

and land cover assessment for the Local Planning Area of Mysore City.

3.1 LAND USE

Land use is demarcated in terms of patterns of anthropoid activities such as

agriculture, forestry and building construction that modify land surface processes

comprising biogeochemistry, hydrology and biodiversity. Scientists and land directors

define land use more broadly to comprise the social and economic purposes and

circumstances for and within which lands are managed, such as sustenance versus

commercial agriculture, hired versus owned, or private versus public land.

Though land cover may be perceived directly in the field or by remote sensing,

annotations of land use and its changes generally need the integration of natural and

social scientific methods to conclude which human activities are occurring in different

parts of the landscape, even when land cover seems to be the similar. Parts covered by

forested vegetation may represent an uninterrupted natural shrub land, a forest

preserve convalescing from a fire, regrowth following tree harvest (forestry), a

plantation of young rubber trees (plantation agriculture), agriculture plots that are in

between periods of clearing for annual crop production, or an irrigated tea plantation.

Hence the causes and consequences of LULC necessitate an interdisciplinary

approach incorporating both natural and social scientific methods.

The requisite for best use of land has never been greater than at present, when

rapid population growth and urban enlargement are converting land into a relatively

uncommon product for agriculture. Most societies were talented to live in balance

with their natural environment, at what time populations were far smaller than today.

As numbers stretched, man had a superior impact on the land through authorization

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for farming and in order to gain fuel and construction material, this was a gradual

process in most places, and social groups were frequently able to develop complex

systems for exploiting natural resources on a sustainable basis.

Human populations have increased very rapidly more recently, especially in

developing countries, and claim for food and fuel has developed terrifyingly.

Simultaneously, changing economic and social conditions have destabilised or

devastated traditional systems of land resource management. Consequently, not only

is the land being cropped and grazed more intensively, with rest or fallow periods

being radically reduced or eliminated, but also operative systems for maintaining

fertility are no longer being functional. Land-use signifies how humans practice the

biophysical or ecological properties of land. Land-uses comprise the modification

and/or management of land for agriculture, settlements, forestry and other uses adding

those that eliminate humans from land, as in the description of nature reserves for

conservation (Ellis, E. 2010). Land use is "the total of arrangements, activities, and

inputs that people undertake in a certain land cover type" (FAO, 1997; FAO/UNEP,

1999).

3.2 LAND COVER

One of the most decisive properties of the Earth system is land cover, defined

as the congregation of biotic and abiotic components on the Earth’s Surface. There are

three fundamental ways in which it is significant (Turner et. al., 1994). The first lies

in the interface of land cover with the atmosphere, which heads to regulation of the

hydrologic cycle and energy budget, and as such is required both for weather and

climate prediction (DeFries et. al., 2002). Second, land cover plays a major role in the

carbon cycle acting as both sources and sinks of carbon. Precisely, the rates of

deforestation, afforestation and regrowth show a substantial role in the release and

appropriating of carbon and consequently affect atmospheric CO2 concentration and

the strength of the greenhouse effect (IPCC, 2000; Janetos and Justice, 2000;

Houghton, 1999). Finally, land cover also replicates the availability of food, fuel,

timber, fiber, and shelter resources for human populations, and serves as a grave

indicator of other ecosystem services such as biodiversity.

Land cover is the physical material at the surface of the earth. Land covers

include grass, asphalt, trees, bare ground and water. Land cover is "the observed

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physical and biological cover of the earth's land, as vegetation or man-made features."

(FAO, 1997a; FAO/UNEP, 1999).

Be it vegetation, urban groundwork, water, bare soil or other, Land cover

denotes to the external cover on the floor; it never defines the use of land, and the use

may differ for lands that have the similar cover type. Land cover is generally spelt as

the flora (natural or planted) or artificial structures namely buildings, dams and roads

which occur on the earth surface. The others that fall under land cover are bare rock

water, sand, ice and similar surfaces.

The statistics on land cover is superfluous to many national/global applications

including watershed management and agricultural productivity. Hence, the necessity

to observe land cover is resulting from manifold traversing drivers, including the

physical climate, ecosystem health, and societal desires. Though the terms “land cover

and land use” are occasionally used interchangeably, they are fundamentally different.

In a roundabout way, land cover is that which covers the surface of the earth and land

use, defines how the land is used.

3.3 LAND USE AND LAND COVER MAPPING

The foot points of human civilization are more or less sculptured with the

landscapes on the earth. The natural landscape changed significantly with the passage

of time by the anthropogenic activities. The existence of humanoid on biosphere and

his usage of land had philosophical consequence on the natural environment and vice

versa; which over time effects into an noticeable alteration in the land use and land

cover. Evidence of land use land cover in the shape of maps and data is very

significant for three-dimensional planning, supervision and application of land. Land

use land cover situation in India has experienced a sweeping change since the

commencement of Green Revolution. Technical and methodical data for change

detection and observing of human usages and bio-geographical exposure of land has

been provided by the Remote sensing.

Land Use and Land Cover mapping, in the present day world, is of great

importance in scientific, scholarly research, planning and management. The character

of interaction between man and environment and the influence of distance and

resources based on mankind’s basic economic activities is reflected by the regional

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land use pattern. A synoptic overview of the whole area in a very short time span is

provided by the remotely sensed satellite images, which leads to speedy and

ingenuous representation of the real world in the best possible manner. It offers an

awareness to coordinate association among transportation, residential, industrial and

recreational land uses, besides giving broad-scale inventories of natural resources and

watching environmental issues, including land reclamation, mangrove restoration,

disaster relief, water quality and planning economic development. There doesn’t exist

any ideal categorisation of land use and land cover, and it is doubtful that one might

always be established. There exists umpteen numbers of viewpoints in the

categorisation procedure, and the procedure this one inclines to be independent, even

when an objective mathematical methodology is adopted. Subsequently land use and

land cover shapes alter in observance with wants for natural resources, there is no

sound reason to anticipate that one comprehensive inventory should be sufficient for

more than a short time.

The Land use and Land cover classifications are recognised and represented

using a LULC map. The Land Use and Land cover map displays the dissemination of

land use pattern and the existing land cover. Land use Land cover mapping is a

product of the development of remote sensing, initially through aerial photography.

To obtain an accurate classification of land use and land cover the use of Remote

Sensing technology, because of the benefits it extends proved very practical and

economical means.

Satellite image classification using numerical techniques have a long tradition,

dating back to at least the early 70’s, Later on two types of classification methods

such as supervised classification and unsupervised classification have evolved and, in

spite of recent developments, have remained as the basic options. They differ in the

assumptions made about the knowledge of the scene to be classified. In supervised

classification, a prior knowledge of all land use and land cover types to be mapped

within the classified scene is assumed. This knowledge is used to define signatures of

the classes of interest, to be applied to the entire scene.

In unsupervised classification, no prior information about land use and land

cover types or their distribution is required. Unsupervised classification methods

divide the scene into more or less pure spectral clusters, characteristically constrained

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by pre-defined parameters characterizing the statistical properties of these clusters and

the relationships among adjacent clusters. The assignment of land cover labels to

individual spectral clusters is made successively on the basis of ground information,

obtained in the locations designated by the resulting clusters. Consistency and

reproducibility is an important consideration in land use and land cover classification.

That is, given the same input data or ideally, even different input data over the same

area the same result should be obtained by various analysts.

3.4 LAND USE LAND COVER OF THE LPA OF MYSORE CITY

Land use pattern of the study area was carried out by standard methods of

analysis of remotely sensed data and followed by ground truth collection and

interpretation of satellite data. 

3.4.1 Pre-field Interpretation of Satellite Data

For pre-field interpretation work the ETM+ image from LandSat Satellite data

of the year 2012 was used. With the help of toposheets and image elements, the

features were identified and delineated the boundaries roughly. Each feature was

identified on image by their image elements like tone, texture, colour, shape, size,

pattern and association. The sample area for field check is selected covering all the

physiographic, land use/land cover feature with image characteristics.

3.4.2 Ground Data Collection

Although land use and land cover maps are frequently made without visiting

the field, there are good reasons for conducting field visits. The two primary reasons

for visiting the area that is being mapped are for collecting data that can be used to

train the algorithm or the interpreter and for collecting data that can be used to

evaluate the land cover map and estimate the accuracy of the individual classes. Both

toposheets and imagery were carried for field verification and a transverse plan using

existing road network was made to cover as many representative sample areas as

possible to observe the broad land use features and to adjust the sample areas

according to field conditions. Detailed field observations and investigations were

carried out and noted the land use features on the imagery.

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3.4.3 Post Field Work

The base maps of the study area were prepared, with the help of Survey of

India Toposheets on 1:50,000 scale. Preliminary interpreted land use and the land

cover features boundaries from Landsat ETM+ images were modified in light of field

information and the final thematic details were transferred onto the base maps. The

final interpreted and classified thematic map was cartography. The cartographic map

was categorically differentiate with standard colour coding and described features

with standard symbols.

3.5 LAND USE/LAND COVER CLASSIFICATION

Total five major land use/land cover classes were demarcated in the study area

following Level II classification (Table 3.1). A thematic map of 1:50,000 scale was

generated incorporating these classified categories considering the area of the project

(Map 3.1). The area as a whole represents a gently slope, drained by a number of

south to north flowing small streams which debouche into the one medium width of

stream that flows from south to north.

Map: 3.1: Land Use Land Cover Map of the Local Planning Area of Mysore City

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Table 3.1: Land Use Land Cover Classification for the LPA of Mysore City

Sl. No.

LULC Class Area

(Sq. kms.) Percentage

(%)

1 Built up Land Rural/Urban)

Settlement 73.90 41.52

Industries 7.55 4.24

Recreational 0.60 0.34

2 Agriculture Land

Cropland 3.75 2.11

Plantation 10.70 6.01

3 Water bodies

River/canal, lakes, Water logged area 2.19 1.23

4 Forest

Forest 8.12 4.56

5 Scrub/Open Land

Land with scrub 10.87 6.11

Land without scrub 15.57 8.75

Open land with current fallow land 44.75 25.14

Total 178.00 100.00 Source: Author, 2012

Fig 3.1: Land use and Land cover pattern within the LPA of Mysore City

46%

8%

1%

5%

40%

PERCENTAGE OF LAND USE AND LAND COVER IN LOCAL PLANNING AREA OF MYSORE CITY

Built up Land (Rural/Urban)

Agriculture Land

Water bodies

Forest

Scrub/Waste Land

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3.5.1 URBAN OR BUILT-UP LAND

An urban area, built-up urban area, urbanized area or urban cluster is a

simultaneously built up land mass of urban development that is within a labour

market. All land in the world is either urban or rural. An urban area comprises no

rural land. In some nations, the term "urban area" is used, but does not denote an

urban area as a built-up urban area.

Urban or Built-up Land consists of areas of rigorous usage with more of the

land enclosed by constructions. This category consist of metropolises, municipalities,

townships, conveyance, electricity, and communications amenities, and regions such

as those engaged by mortars, supermarket run centres, manufacturing and commercial

complexes, and establishments that might, in some occurrences, be secluded from

built-up areas. As growth advancements, land consuming less concentrated or

different use might be situated in the centre of urban or Built-up areas and will usually

be encompassed in this group. Cultivated land, wetland, forest, or water zones on the

peripheral of town or Urbanised areas will never be incorporated apart from where

they are enclosed and controlled by urban development. At what time the conditions

for further class are to be met the Urban or Built-up category takes precedence over

others. Urban areas are restricted to a single nation. Residential zones that ensure

adequate tree concealment to come across the criteria for a forest community type will

be placed in this category.

The urban built-up land in the Local Planning Area of Mysore City covers for

82.05 sq. kms, which accounts to 46.10 percent of the total land area. The major built-

up land includes residential, commercial, recreational and industrial classes.

3.5.1.1 Settlement

A settlement is an abode where individuals reside. A settlement might be

whatever an inaccessible farmhouse to a mega city. They can both be temporary or

permanent. Temporary settlements comprise of places such as refugee camps. There

are some temporary settlements that have become permanent over time. A rural

settlement is a community carrying out predominantly primary activities such as

farming, lumbering and mining. An urban settlement engages in principally in

secondary and tertiary activities such as food processing and banking. Frequently

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there is a correlation between functions, population sizes and population density. The

word settlement has another implication as well as this is a process of opening up and

settling of an earlier uninhabited area by the people. This process is also known as

occupancy in geography. Consequently, a settlement is a process of grouping of

people and attaining of some territory to build houses as well as for their economic

support.

The residential use is one of the most important space consuming uses of the

city area. Suburban land usages array from great density, symbolized by the multiple-

unit constructions of urban hubs, to low density, where households are more than an

acre, on the fringe of urban expansion.  The residential bands usually have a

unchanging magnitude and positioning of constructions, undeviating driveways, and

grassland areas; the commercial strips are more likely to have structures of dissimilar

dimensions and arrangement, huge driveways, and docking spaces. The other

components of this category are the establishment land habits, namely the numerous

religious, educational, correctional, health and military amenities. Structures, lands,

and parking lots that comprise the capability are contained within the institutional

component. A residential land begins as a low-density residential land but with the

passage of time the density increases to a assured extent. As the density touches a

critical point, the population begins to drift to suburban areas or when a city becomes

spatially expanded, new centres begin springing up in the shape of satellite towns and

other developments. As the population of an urban centre increases, there would be a

corresponding increase to the land dedicated to commercial purpose.

According to the census of India urban areas are those which satisfy the

conditions given below:

(a) All places with a municipality corporation, cantonment board or notified town

area committee

(b) All other places which satisfy the following criteria:

(i) a minimum population of 5000

(ii) at least 75 percent of male working population engaged in non-agricultural

sector; and

(iii) a density of population of at least 4,000 persons per square kilometre.

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The settlement category covers an area of 73.90 square kilometres accounting

to 41.52 percent of the total study area. The residential and commercial areas in the

LPA of Mysore city are well planned and the Mysore Urban Development Authority

(MUDA), which creates layouts and allots sites to the citizens, monitors its

development. The buffer zone struck between the urban Mysore and the rural

neighbourhood have been renovated into real estate. Even the private land developers

had developed agricultural land into residential area to make layouts as per the

MUDA norms. The space surrounding and adjacent to the Chamundi Hills is

observing speedy urbanisation and are upcoming of new living areas are gobbling

uncluttered places of Mysore within the town limits.

3.5.1.2 Industrial

Industrial zones include a varied range of land usages from small to huge

industrialized plants. To find out the small scale production units those concentrated

on enterprise, assembly, processing, finishing and wrapping of produces can regularly

be centred on the nature of building, parking, and shipping activities. Small scale

manufacturing areas need not essentially be, unswervingly in interaction with urban

areas; several are recently stationed at airports or in relatively open country. Large

manufacturing industries need raw ingredients such as coal, iron ore or timber. The

industries that fall in this category can be power generating stations, steel pulverisers,

pulp and wood mills, oil refineries and tank ranches, chemical plants, and brick

making plants. Accumulations of raw materials and waste-product discarding areas

are characteristically visible, along with transportation facilities proficient of handling

heavy materials.

A large scale industry contains surface structures associated with mining

operations. Surface structures and equipment may vary from a slightest of a stocking

scheme and Lorries to stretched areas with access to roads, treating facilities,

accumulations, storage cabins, and abundant automobiles. Cosset material and slag

piles typically are originated within a little trucking distance of the chief mine zones

and might be the important pointer of concealed mining processes. Unvarying finding

out of all these varied extractive practices are tremendously problematic from remote

sensor data alone. Zones of upcoming capitals are encompassed in the suitable

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present-use grouping, namely Agricultural Land or Forest Land, notwithstanding the

projected forthcoming usage.

The industrial area within the LPA of Mysore City covers an area of 7.55

square kilometres, which accounts to 4.24 percent of the study area in total. Karnataka

Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) or by Karnataka State Small Industries

Development Corporation (KSSIDC) shall provide the land for the construction and

operation of industries.

The government has established KIADB as a statutory agency for purchasing

land for industrial schemes and to advance industrial extents. Since then the KIADB

is being involved in acquiring, developing and assigning industrial areas with wide-

ranging organizations. Several industries were established in Mysore such as

INFOSYS and WIPRO, SPI and COMAT in the Industrial areas developed and

monitored by the KIADB.

KSSIDC is one more establishment of the Government involved in

construction and provision of ready-to-use industrial huts for the equipped use of

depositors. KSSIDC (earlier known as Mysore Small Industries Corporation) is

executing amenities to the small sector in the State. This has been carrying on since

more than forty years. Small scale industries within the city were distributed in

industrial areas of Hebbal, Hootagalli, Mettagalli, Koorgally, Belwadi, Yadavagiri,

Bannimantap, and Vidyaranyapuram Industrial areas which are monitored by

KSSIDC.

3.5.2 AGRICULTURAL LAND

Agricultural Land may be expressed broadly as land used principally for

production of foodstuff and fibre. The principal signs of agricultural commotion will

be idiosyncratic symmetrical arena and road outlines on the background and the

patches formed by livestock or mechanized equipment. Nevertheless, meadow and

other properties where such apparatus are used uncommonly might not display as well

distinct figures as other areas. These distinctive symmetrical shapes are also

representative of Urban or Built-up Lands because of street plan and enlargement by

blocks. Differentiating amongst Cultivated and Urban or Built-up Lands generally

would be potential on the foundation of urban-activity pointers and the associated

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absorption of population. The biggest difference that can be observed between the

Agricultural Land and the other urban or built-up land is that the number of

institutional complexes including the road and highway network are less in the former

compare to the latter. The parks and the large open area allocated for cemeteries in the

urban areas may be mistaken for Agricultural Land usually when they are built in the

fringe of the urban areas.

The agricultural land in the LPA of Mysore City is 14.45 square kilometres

accounting to 8.12 percent of the total study area. The major agricultural land found in

the study area includes cropland and plantations.

3.5.2.1 Cropland

A Land cover/use classification that comprises spaces used for the creation of

modified crops for yield. There are two standard subcategories of cropland: cultivated

and uncultivated. The crops that are grown in row or that which are grown close

together form cultivated cropland. The best illustration, of this type of cropland is hay

land or pastureland which is grown in a rotation by means of row or close-grown

crops. Uncultivated cropland comprises of permanent horticultural. The land that falls

under this category is tilled for the crops to be planted. The crops that were harvested

or in which the hay was cut, the failed crops, the cropland that is used for pasture, the

idled cropland, are some that is included in the harvested crops.

The green pastures, orchards, groves, vineyards, the nurseries, the green house

crops, the grazing land where animals are grazed an that which could be used later for

crops without additional improvements, the cover crops, soil enhancing grasses,

legumes and the pastured land that is not harvested fall in this category named

cropland. Cropland also contains area embedded in vegetables and fruits, together

with those developed on farms for household purpose. Those environments that are

adapted or shaped by human to yield agricultural crops (e.g., paddy, wheat, ragi,

sugarcane) and/or to be ment for pasture too fall in cropland. Ssince the grazing

activity is usually not noticeable on remote sensor imagery applicable to Levels I and

II. This activity perhaps might be illustrious on low-altitude imagery. The total

cropland in the LPA of Mysore City covers an area of 3.75 square kilometres which

accounts to 2.11 percent of the total study area.

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3.5.2.2 Plantations

The term plantation is a system of profitable farming where harvests are

developed for profit. Huge land parts are required for this type of agriculture. Annual

Temperatures and annual rainfall are highly experienced in the countries that grow

plantation agriculture Plantations mostly originate in countries that obligate a humid

climate.

It is observed during the early 18th and the 19th centuries that the westerners

and western companies that had their roots in plantation agriculture. In Malaysia the

British had employed large number of workers from India and some local people for

rubber plantation as they had to pay them small wages. Plantation agriculture is a

method of commercial agriculture where yields are produced for sale. Some

manufacturing industries use these crops as raw materials. Plantations are enormous

and can spread from a few acres to a few thousand acres.

Handsome money is invested in the form of capital for the construction of

roads, purchase of machinery and constructing factories to process the crops reaped

from the plantations. Sugarcane is one of the examples wherein the raw material is

used to make sugar as the final finished product. As the land used for plantation use

up nutrients from the soil the plantation owners have to invest on fertilisers; pesticides

for crops not to be destroyed by pests.

As plantation requires large areas a lot of labour is required to work in the land

and the nearby processing industries. A very good example is the rubber plantation

and the labour required to extract latex from the rubber trees. The others are tea,

coffee, banana, oil palm, cocoa, tobacco, coconut, citrus, orchards, arecanut and other

nurseries of horticulture.The total plantation area in the LPA of Mysore City covers

an area of 10.70 square kilometres which accounts to 6.01 percent of the total study

area. Major plantations found in the study area are coconut, arecanut, banana, and

horticulture nurseries.

3.5.3 WATER

Around the Earth, water moves continuously and changes its form constantly.

Water evaporates from the land as well as the water bodies. All forms of life also

produce water. The water vapour passes through the atmosphere, forms clouds

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through condensation and returns to the surface in the form of precipitation. This

procedure of evaporation, condensation and precipitation is a never-ending process

called the water cycle. Even though the water moves constantly, the total volume

within the Earth's surface remains the same.

The circulation of water on Earth is controlled by the groundwater which

forms a part of the global hydrologic cycle The water instigates through the

penetration of precipitation that cascades on the land surface and descends through the

soil. Usually and what is observed is that the ground water tends to move from high to

low on the water table. The fresh water storage can be seen as, about 75 percent is

assessed to be stored in polar ice and glaciers and about 25 percent is likely to be

stockpiled as ground water. Whereas the Freshwater stored in rivers, lakes, and as soil

moisture quantifies to less than 1 percent of the earth's freshwater. Although several

freshwater lakes and rivers sewer into the ocean, the formation of saline lakes are

formed at the endpoint of the river flow.

The resolution characteristics and the scale of data presentation of the remote

sensor date which is used for interpretation of land use and land cover determines the

delineation of water areas. The flowing water body categories include the creeks,

canals, rivers and other linear water bodies. Reservoirs can be understood as a

amalgamation of lakes and rivers since they were produced by construction of a dam

and flooding of a river valley. This process usually creates an artificial lake, which

will have the same potentials of rivers and lakes.

The total water body in the LPA of Mysore City covers an area of 2.19 square

kilometres which accounts to 1.23 percent of the total study area. The study area is

having several important lakes like the Kukkarahalli Lake, Karanji Lake, Dalvoy

Lake, Lingabhudi Lake, Devannur Lake, Hinkal Lake, Bogadi Lake, Hebbal Lake,

Devikere Lake. Most of the lakes in the study area are at the risk of destruction.

3.5.4 FOREST LAND

A forest is a highly complex, constantly changing environment made up of a

variety of living things such as wildlife, trees, shrubs, wildflowers, ferns, mosses,

lichens, fungi and microscopic soil organisms and non-living things such as water,

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nutrients, rocks, sunlight and air. Trees are the biggest part of this complex

community.

The land use definition of forest is an area accomplished for the creation of

timber and other forest merchandises or preserved as woody vegetation for such

indirect profits as fortification of catchment areas or recreation. The other definition

of forest is land which is appropriate for timber production, and that is not used to a

substantial amount for other commitments; and land where tree cover is anticipated in

order to safeguard against sand or soil erosion, or to preclude a dropping of the tree

line. Wholly or partially unused will not be considered as forest land if, due to

specific conditions, it is not desired that the specific land be used for wood

production.

The land cover category defines a forest in relation of vegetative land cover.

An ecosystem categorised by more or less thick and widespread tree cover.

Characteristically, the cover is measured as percent cover. Dissimilarities may be

through between open and closed canopy forests. Other alternates comprise the usage

of basal area, wood capacity, percentage of land with trees beyond a minimum height,

or percentage of land with tree biomass beyond a minimum inception.

The forest ecosystem that consists of a majority of trees those drop leaves

when the frost- free period concludes or when the dry season commences, form the

deciduous forest land. Tropical hardwoods and characteristics of deciduous forest

type wetlands are not categorized as deciduous forest. Evergreen forest land are those

forest ecosystems that have a higher proportion of trees that stay green all through the

year including the coniferous as well as the broad-leaved evergreens. Mixed forest

land has an ecosystem where the evergreen trees as well as the deciduous trees grow.

It also includes forestland that represents both for at least one-third each of the land

covered.

The total forest area in the LPA of Mysore City covers an area of 8.12 square

kilometres which accounts to 4.56 percent of the total study area. Major forest area is

found in the Chamundi hills located at south-east of the study area. Chamundi temple

on the hills is a famous tourist destination and has a wide variety of wild animals

within the forest range surrounding it.

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3.5.5 SCRUB / OPEN LANDS

Scrub or open land is little, thick vegetation formed from shrubs, ferns and

young trees. Scrubs are of different types. Transitory scrub is environment's 'band-

aid', wrapping bare land or uninhibited enclosures. This permits the land to mature

back into inherent forest, usually within a span of 30 years in appropriate sites.

Enduring scrub is only originated in areas where the situations are too punitive for

inherent forest to take over. This can be found in harshest areas, in wetlands, on

mountains, along uncovered coastlines and on poor soils. Many uncommon and

erratic plants can be observed in scrub land. Scrub comprises all periods from the

dispersed scrublands to fastened canopy vegetation, conquered by nearby native or

non-native shrubs and tree saplings, typically fewer than 5 m in height, irregularly

with a scarce scattered trees. They comprises of carr, scrub in the uplands and

lowlands.

The scrub/open land in the LPA of Mysore City covers an area of 71.19 square

kilometres which accounts to 40 percent of the total study area. The land with and

without scrub and open land are found surrounding the settlements.