Assessment of Land Use–Land Cover and Phytosociological Characteristics of Bangus Grassland in the Ramhal Forest Range, Kashmir Himalaya

Abstract

Grasslands are globally extensive ecosystems that deliver key services (carbon sequestration, climate regulation, soil and water conservation) and sustain pastoral livelihoods, yet they are increasingly degraded by land-use change, overgrazing, infrastructure expansion, and climate variability. This study assessed grassland distribution and phytosociological characteristics in the Ramhal Forest Range of Kemil Forest Division. Sentinel-2 multispectral imagery (October 2024) was pre-processed and classified using on-screen digitisation, map accuracy was evaluated using confusion-matrix metrics and kappa statistics. Vegetation composition was quantified using randomly placed 1 × 1 m quadrats and the Importance Value Index (IVI) derived from relative density, frequency, and basal area. The Ramhal Forest Range covers 32,008.72 ha and is forest-dominated, with closed forest as the principal class (13,252.82 ha; 41.40%) and grasslands form a relatively small but ecologically pivotal component (2,517.27 ha; 7.86%), mainly in forest openings and higher elevations. Classification performance was high (overall accuracy 92.8%, and κ = 0.91). Floristic analysis revealed that the, 36 herbaceous species were recorded, Poa annua exhibited the IVI of 15.88, indicating its clear dominance in the community followed by Plantago lanceolata (15.63), and Trifolium repens (15.37). These results indicate that relatively intact forest matrices and moisture controls (snow and hydrology) shape patchy grassland habitats that sustain high herbaceous diversity, underscoring the need for regulated grazing and spatially informed conservation planning to maintain high-altitude ecosystem integrity in the Kashmir Himalaya.