Assessing ecological risk in the riparian zone of the Punatsangchhu river basin, Bhutan: Prioritizing White-bellied Heron habitat
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: The riparian zone is the most biodiverse ecoregion, which provides essential functions and services to humankind. The riparian zone is significantly affected by human activities worldwide. This study integrated remote sensing, geographic information system, and machine learning algorithms to predict the risk vulnerability in the riparian zone of the Punatsangchhu River Basin. The current study used 11 predictors, including land use and land cover, geomorphology, and others, to assess riparian zone risk. The model's overall predictive accuracy was good, with RF (AUC = 0.97) outperforming SVM (AUC = 0.94). Land use and land cover, and geomorphology were the most influential predictors of the riparian zone risk vulnerability based on information gain ratio (InGR). The findings show that very high risk areas constitute 11% and 14%, respectively, according to SVM and RF. The result also revealed that very high and high risk areas within the riparian zone were dominant in the middle, lower, and upper regions of the Punatsangchhu River Basin. The low-risk class is the most prominent in the riparian zone, with 50% and 49% by SVM and RF, respectively. These findings provide critical information to competent authorities for formulating and implementing risk response measures to protect the riparian zone. It helps prioritize high and very high risk areas for restoration and remediation, and regularized buffer zoning to support future hydropower development. Moreover, the high risk areas coinciding with the habitat of the White-bellied Heron could be prioritized for restoration to aid conservation. Thus, this makes the present study critical for supporting the planning and management of the riparian zone and river basin as a whole.
Source: Research Square
Authors: Asish Subba, Satyanarayan Shashtri
Institution: Nalanda University
Language: English
Subfield: Earth-Surface Processes
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7204165487