Applying geographic information systems and remote sensing for water quality assessment of mangrove forest Sakineh Lotfinasabasl a, ⁎, V.R. Gunale b , Mohammad Khosroshahi c a Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, P.O. Box 13185-116, Tehran, Iran b Department of Environmental Science, University of Pune, Pune 411007, India c Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, P.O. Box 13185-116, Tehran, Iran abstract article info Article history: Received 18 September 2016 Received in revised form 24 June 2017 Accepted 27 June 2017 Available online xxxx The study of environmental conditions is one of the most important measures in the field of reforestation. The present study was undertaken to assess the environmental status of the mangrove forest of Alibaug, Maharashtra, India with respect to different sixteen physicochemical parameters of water using Geographical information sys- tem (GIS) for rehabilitation, conservation and development of the destructed area of the mangrove forest. The Base map of study area was prepared using topographic map and the remote sensing data of Landsat 7 ETM+ for spatial analysis. The distributions of water pollutants were assigned using a GIS approach of Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW). The results showed that the amounts of EC, COD, hardness, O&G, Cl - , Na + , Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , NO 3 - and PO 4 3- are higher than the normal ranges in mangrove forest due to natural processes and human activity, in- dustrial and domestic wastewater disposal, oil spillage and agricultural runoff which all eventually affect the water quality of mangrove forest of Alibaug. To identify the areas within the normal ranges of 16 studied param- eter, suitability map of water was prepared through an integration of 16 suitability maps of the studied param- eters. The suitability map of water classified the water to six classes of suitability in order of moderate N moderate to high N low to moderate N high N low suitable. The areas with classes of 1 and 2 were suitable for the protective measures. Classes 3 and 4 were suitable for replantation and restoration of native mangrove species as well as local communities' cooperation in the participatory protection measures. The areas of classes 5 and 0 need to be designed an urgent management and mitigation plan to reduce impact of human activities. The result of the study also proves the use of GIS as a powerful tool in addressing assessment and monitoring pro- grams of the water quality in the mangrove ecosystems. © 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Ecological Society of China. Keywords: Spatial analysis Alibaug mangrove forest Physicochemical parameters Suitability maps Surface water 1. Introduction Consumption of natural resources resulting rapidly expanding human populations has caused huge impacts to ecosystems across the world. Mangrove forest ecosystem as a base of an elaborate and produc- tive food web in the tropical and subtropical coastal marine environ- ments is one of the most threatened tropical ecosystems [21]. Mangrove zones having an important role as breeding and nursery grounds for many important species are highly productive [1,13,14,24, 31]. More than 35% of the world's mangroves are already gone. The fig- ure is as high as 50% in countries such as India, the Philippines, and Viet- nam, while in the America they are being cleared at a rate faster than tropical rainforests. Several present studies reveal that following natural hazards and anthropogenic activities are the main cause of degradation of mangrove areas in India [37]. One of the major causes of pollution in the mangrove ecosystem is pollution from industrial and domestic effluents as well as oil spills and solid waste disposal. The nutrients from sewage disposal, including phosphorus and nitrogen under proper and managed situation causing growth of trees and increasing their productivity [34]. The considerable changes were seen when the higher disposal rate was observed than the uptake. Mangrove trees act as sinks for various pollutants. Oil pollution from oil or gas exploration, petroleum production and accidental spills severely damage mangrove ecosystems [18]. In effect, mangrove forests are under stress, which turns into more fragile ecosystems. Mangroves having phytoremediation potential can remove organic and inorganic nutrients and pollutants including heavy metals and agrochemical from the water through adhering contaminants to the particles of sedi- ment and uptake them to the areal parts of the tree via their roots. Man- groves restrict water eutrophication by phosphate and nitrate through denitrification causing lower concentration as well [9]. The type of pol- lutants ranging from organic and inorganic as well as their chemical properties is the key factors affecting the phytoremediation potential of the mangroves. For last several years interferences in mangroves in Acta Ecologica Sinica xxx (2016) xxx–xxx ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: s.lotfinasab@areeo.ac.ir (S. Lotfinasabasl). CHNAES-00512; No of Pages 9 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chnaes.2017.06.017 1872-2032/© 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Ecological Society of China. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Acta Ecologica Sinica journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chnaes Please cite this article as: S. Lotfinasabasl, et al., Applying geographic information systems and remote sensing for water quality assessment of mangrove forest, Acta Ecologica Sinica (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chnaes.2017.06.017