Correlation of Stagnant Wetlands Depth and Their Ecological Status in the Central Tamilnadu District, Tamilnadu.

Abstract

Abstract Background The wetland stagnation is the premise of the wetland depth (WD) but is lacking in detail. The research looks into correlation of stagnant wetland’s depth and their ecological status in the Central Tamil Nadu district (CTN) because of few studies. Seventy-five chosen stagnant wetlands are hydrologically isolated, depths were categorized into less than 5 feet, 6 to 10, and above 10 feet, surveyed by the range of methods from districts as Karur (KD), Namakkal (ND), and Tiruchirappalli district (TD). The human disturbance score (HDS) categorized as least impacted (0-33), moderately impacted (33-67), and highly impacted (67-100).The impacts of LULC changes over nine years (2010–2019) through the maximum likelihood method. Overall, wetland depth (WD) showed that 54% (less than 5 feet), 25.6% (5-10 feet) 20.2% (100 feet). District-wise, wetland degradation was the utmost in the TD, followed by ND and KD. Except In KD, the remaining district wetlands were MI category with diverse HDS. The correlation test revealed a positive relationship between WD against the alteration of the buffer zone, habitat, hydrology, and HDS. However, a negative relation between landscape alteration and wetland pollution. The impacts of LULC changes confirm that severe decline in wetlands habitat and water bodies’ area due to built-up area, cultivated land expansion and, increasing population. Our study supported that the WD is associated with quantified impact on wetlands conditions, but further research will need due to limited surveyed wetlands with similar geographical locations.