ISPRS-Archives The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences ISPRS-Archives Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci. 2194-9034 Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/isprsarchives-XL-8-589-2014 Comparison of Bioclimatic, NDVI and Elevation variables in assessing extent of Commiphora wightii (Arnt.) Bhand. Kulloli R. N. 1 Kumar S. 1 Central Arid Zone Research Institute, (CAZRI) Jodhpur 342003, India 28 11 2014 XL-8 589 595 Copyright: © 2014 R. N. Kulloli 2014 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is available from https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XL-8/589/2014/isprs-archives-XL-8-589-2014.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XL-8/589/2014/isprs-archives-XL-8-589-2014.pdf

<i>Commiphora wightii</i> (Arnt.) Bhand., is an important medicinal plant of Indian Medicine System (IMS) since ancient time. It is used in different ailments of obesity, arthritis, rheumatism and high cholesterol. Due to overexploitation its natural populations declined to large extent. IUCN has put it under Data Deficient (DD) category due to lack of data on its extent of occurrence in nature. Hence, the study was carried out using MaxEnt distribution modelling algorithm to estimate its geographic distribution and to identify potential habitats for its reintroduction. For modelling employed 68 presence locality data, 19 bioclimatic variables, Normalize Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and elevation data. These were tested for multicollinearity and those variables having r-value less than 0.8 were selected for further analysis, which was carried out in two ways i) Bioclimatic variables and elevation; ii) NDVI and elevation. Area Under the Curve (AUC) in both analysis was above 0.9 for all variables, indicating very high accuracy of prediction. Variables governing distribution of <i>C. wightii</i> in the analysis using bioclimatic and elevation data set are precipitation seasonality (56.6 %), annual precipitation (16.4 %) and elevation (14.7 %). Extent of occurrence of <i>C.wightii</i> predicted by model closely matched in the districts of Jaisalmer and Barmer. In the second analysis elevation (48.3 %), NDVI of June (11.1 %) and August (11.2 %) contributed for NDVI and Elevation data set. NDVI of June corresponds to its leafing phase while NDVI of August to flowering phase. Area of its occurrence predicted for NDVI and elevation data set are Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunun some part of Jodhpur which are completely sandy, where <i>C. wightii</i> is totally absent. Extent of occurrence was also validated in ground survey. Potential areas for its reintroduction were identified as Jaisalmer and Barmer districts in Indian arid zone.