Browsing by Author "Ramesh, Divya"

Filter results by typing the first few letters
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Abundance, Habitat Relationships and Behavior of the Semi-Fossorial Indian Desert Jird, Meriones hurriancae, in Kachchh, Gujarat
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2011) Ramesh, Divya; Jhala, Y.V.; Qureshi, Qamar
    Population sizes, habitat relationships and behaviour are among basic ecological aspects pivotal to demystifying a species and its place in the ecosystem. Numerous in species and number, desert rodents offer immense scope for such investigations. The Indian desert jird, Meriones hurrianae, though common, is remarkably little known. This study, conducted in Kachchh, Gujarat, estimates population sizes, examines factors in the habitat likely to influence their occurrence, and elucidates the activity pattern and time budget across 2 land use types, agricultural and natural areas, during winter (December February) and summer (March-May). Animals were caught in 9 colonies using Sherman traps and population estimated under closed population Capture-Mark-Recapture framework in Program MARK, using individual covariates (age class, gender, body weight, site). Colony parameters (length, width, number of holes) were regressed against known Mark-Recapture (MR) population estimates to develop predictive models for estimating population size from indices. Population sizes varied from 2 to 10 individuals. Number of holes in a colony provided robust estimates of the number of individuals in that colony (N=16, R2=0.96, t=18.19, p