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Item Assessment of Soil Loss in Wet Tropical Region: A Case Study in Kumaradhara Basin, Western Ghats, India(Springer Nature, 2024) Roopa, N.; Ramesh, H.; Dhanush, B.M.; Meghana, C.S.Degradation of land resources and soil erosion are major issues affecting the productivity of the land. To design appropriate regional land management approaches using field data, an evaluation is a requirement to ascertain the extent and severity of soil degradation. Western Ghats of India is one of 34 global biodiversity hotspots, and habitat degradation has been causing havoc in this area for decades. The Kumaradhara River is a dominant part of wet tropical forested land on the Western side of the Western Ghats. The Hongadahalla and Kadumanehalla Rivers are tributaries of the Kumaradhara River. Mookanamane, Bidahalli, and Marenahalli are sub-catchments covering parts of the rivers Hongadahalla, and Kadumanehalla, having catchment areas of 41 km2, 33 km2, and 64 km2, respectively. The primary goal of the current study is to use the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to estimate annual erosion rates and develop a soil loss map for the year 2021 for the mountainous watershed of Kumaradhara. The geo-environmental data were collected from Indian Meteorological Department, Earth Explorer, and the National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning. The impacts of rainfall erosivity, soil erodability, slope length and steepness, cover management, and conservation practice variables on mean annual soil loss in the study were calculated using GIS data layers. The quantitative results and analysis of soil erosion estimated by the RUSLE model ranged from 29.56 to 7992.89 t ha−1 year−1 in Mookanamane, 25.6 to 20,494.12 t ha−1 year−1 in Marenahalli, and 21.6 to 15,265.25 t ha−1 year−1 in Bidahalli. It has been observed that the risk of soil erosion in forests is low in the study area, whereas the risk of soil erosion on barren land is moderate. The study results shall create terrain management and planning strategies in environmentally sensitive mountainous areas. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024.Item Soil erosion in diverse agroecological regions of India: a comprehensive review of USLE-based modelling(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2023) Makhdumi, W.; Shwetha, H.R.; Dwarakish, G.S.Soil erosion caused by water refers to the removal of topsoil by rainfall and runoff. Proper selection of an assessment method is crucial for quantifying the spatial variance of soil erosion. The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and its revised version (RUSLE) are widely used for modelling soil erosion. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the USLE-based soil erosion modelling in different agroecological regions of India, identify potential issues, and provide suggestions for future applications. The review revealed that little attention has been given to estimate soil erosion in high-priority land degradation regions of India. Additionally, many studies failed to thoroughly verify the authenticity of stated soil loss rates in their research regions either by overestimating or underestimating at least one of the five soil loss parameters. Furthermore, flaws in the application of methods to calculate these parameters leading to erroneous values were identified and suggestions for improvement were made. The USLE-based soil erosion modelling is an effective tool for quantifying soil erosion risk, but researchers should put emphasis on thoroughly verifying the methodologies adopted, unit conversions, and data availability for the estimation of soil loss parameters to improve the accuracy of their final results. This paper provides valuable insights to assist researchers in implementing USLE-based erosion models in diverse agroecological regions in India and elsewhere. However, for effective soil conservation and sustainable agriculture, further research is necessary to develop efficient techniques for using USLE-based soil erosion modelling to achieve a comprehensive understanding of erosion risk across different agroecological regions. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.Item Addressing Spatial Variability in Estimating Cover Management Factor of Soil Erosion Models using Geoinformatics: A Case Study of Netravati Catchment, Karnataka, India(SAGE Publications Ltd, 2025) Makhdumi, W.; R, S.H.; Dwarakish, G.S.; Pai, J.Soil erosion is a significant threat to both agricultural productivity and natural resources. The most commonly applied soil erosion models are the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and its revised version (RUSLE), which rely heavily on the Cover Management factor (C factor) as a critical input parameter. This study aims to improve the accuracy of C factor estimates for the Netravati catchment present in the Western Ghats and Coastal Plains of India by using the Random Forest Algorithm and Sentinel 2 satellite data. The research examined five commonly used Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) based C factor estimating equations and found that they inadequately represented local vegetation dynamics in the study area. To address this, a high-resolution Land Use Land Cover (LULC) map was generated using the Random Forest algorithm and in situ C factor values were assigned to LULC classes. A regression analysis between Sentinel 2-derived NDVI and the actual C factor yielded a novel equation. The proposed equation estimated C factor values ranging from 0.056 to 0.99, which closely align with actual observations and outperforming existing methods. The model’s performance was evaluated using statistical metrics, including a correlation coefficient of 0.984, mean absolute error of 0.048, root mean square error of 0.058, and Kling-Gupta efficiency of 0.921, indicating superior accuracy compared to existing methods. This study presents a region-specific approach for estimating the C factor, serving as a reliable tool for improving soil erosion predictions in the Western Ghats and Coastal Plains of India. Apart from highlighting the need for local parameterisation, the results have important implications for soil conservation planning, erosion risk management, and sustainable land use practices in the region. © The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).