Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

HABITAT-BASED ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF URBAN SPACE IN MOUNTAIN ENVIRONMENT: AN APPRAISAL FOR GANGTAK TOWN, SIKKIM, INDIA

Nilanjana Das, Soumendu Chatterjee and Utpal Roy

Abstract

The Urban ecological landscape of Gangtak town, Sikkim represents a mosaic of natural, semi-natural and completely altered cultural habitats which can be considered as a manifestation of human interaction with natural environment in the face of rapid urbanization. Human activities for urban development have brought about several changes in the form of landuse alteration, slope modification, fragmentation of natural habitats etc. which in turn changed the habitat character by modifying the natural habitats and also by introducing some man-made habitats. In this paper, an attempt has been made to identify and assess each of the urban habitat types in ecological terms and also to appraise the impacts of urbanization on the remanant natural habitats.