PhD Theses (WII)
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Item Factors affecting habitat occupancy of tiger in the Terai Arc landscape, India(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2009) Rajapandian, K.; Goyal, S.P.; Qureshi, QamarThe goal of this study, therefore, was to identify the factors affecting the distribution of tiger and assess the distribution of suitable habitat patches and the connectivity between these patches for successful dispersal in the Indian part of TAL. In the present study developed GIS probability models for tiger and its prey species and a spatially explicit individual-based dispersal model (SEIBM) for tiger in order to identify and assess the factors which are affecting the occupancy of tiger and subsequently predict potential suitable habitats and estimate the connectivity between the fragmented subpopulations in the Indian as well as between Indian and Nepal part of TAL. Data were collected on presence/absence of four wild ungulates (sambar Cervus unicolor, chital Axis axis, nilgai Boselaphus tragocamelus, and wild pig Sus scrofa), which are important prey species of tiger in two phases during the period between 2002 and 2006. The results of this study, in addition to contributing to the knowledge on factors affecting suitable habitat distribution and dispersal of tiger, have many implications for conservation of tiger in the Indian part of TAL. This study has also identified critical areas needed for management initiatives for functional unit of tiger conservation in the TAL.Item Habitat selection of birds in New Forest, Dehra Dun, India.(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2007) Mohan, Dhananjai; Johnsingh, A.J.T.The New Forest campus is primarily a man-made ecosystem created in the 1920s mainly to house the Forest Research Institute. Much of the area of what is New Forest today was under agricultural fields till they were acquired in 1920s by the British and there after considerably large areas of this sprawling campus were developed into demonstration forests, gardens, experimental plantations areas, and arboretum by planting them up. In addition, there is a block of natural forest on the northern part of the campus which belongs to 3C2b(i) type (Moist Bhabhar Sal forests). The present study was restricted to ca. 150 ha of wooded part of the 463 ha of the campus. Two hundred and seventy six birds have been reported from the campus till date. The campus is managed through management plans prepared at a ten year cycle. Four distinct vegetation types were identified in the wooded parts of the New Forest campus based on the vegetation composition and structure. These, namely, Chir Pine plantations, Gardens, Mixed plantations and Natural forests were recognized as the four distinct habitats for the birds, the first three being man-made. The bird abundance was estimated by conducting point transects which were done over a two year period from October 2004 to June 2006 and collected habitat structure and composition data by laying out vegetation plots around the point locations for the bird transects (bird centered vegetation sampling). The guild structure of the birds of New Forest was investigated and factors determining it were identified. The seasonal change in guild structures both within and across various habitat types was also looked into. Birds were divided into fifteen fine feeding guilds. A distinct habitat selection by birds was observed amongst the four identified habitats of New Forest as seen from multiple response permutation procedure (MRPP) and hierarchical clustering of sample points in different habitats on the basis of bird composition. The present study shows that despite some degree of biotic pressures, natural forest habitat still possesses the highest bird richness as compared to the well-preserved mature plantations even with mixed crop. It also supports the highest density of birds of all the habitats of New Forest. The highest number of indicator birds has also been reported from this habitat. A large number of biome restricted bird are reported from this habitat which has led to the declaration of New Forest as an Important Bird Area. This habitat which is typical of northern part of Dehradun valley is under great threat in most parts owing to a rapid spread of urbanization and the patch in New Forest may be the only one to provide long term preservation to its typical flora and birds.Item Spatial patterns of species richness and distribution in breeding land birds of the Central Indian Highlands.(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2006) Jaypal, R.; Qureshi, Qamar; Chellam, RaviVariations in number and distribution of species in space constitute one of the fundamental themes in ecological research. It is being increasingly recognized that studies on species diversity at regional scale are essential to understand the mechanisms of maintenance of biological diversity. Emergence of macroecology, where large-scale ecological phenomena are examined to test biogeographical hypotheses, has considerably widened the scope of these approaches to include application of empirical patterns in finding solutions to conservation issues. This study, adopting this acroecological framework, investigates the spatial patterns in species richness and distribution of breeding land birds in central India. 2. The study was conducted across the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges, collectively known as Central Indian Highlands, in Madhya Pradesh, India between March, 2002 and September, 2005. Bird species composition is found to be primarily determined by vegetation structure at regional level and by floristic composition at local scale. This finding is consistent with earlier observations that birds respond, in their species composition, to vegetation structure across habitats and to vegetation composition within habitats. The species-area relationship in central Indian birds is best described by power function curve with a slope of 0.12. The acutely low slope points to the extremely sparse nature of spatial gradient in bird species diversity of Central Indian Highlands. The findings of the study clearly illustrate the bias in PA network that a single-species approach can potentially bring about. The recent rediscovery of the critically endangered Forest Owlet (Heteroglaux blewitti), after a gap of 113 years, from these low-rainfall dry deciduous forests highlights the importance of extending adequate protection to all major biomes and the need for multi-species approach in design and maintenance of an efficient PA network.Item Ecology of otters in Corbett Tiger Reserve.(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2008) Nawab, Asghar; Hussain, S.A.Otters are obligately tied to aquatic environments and are recognized as one of the top predators in the freshwater systems. Major threats to otter survival are the loss of wetland habitats, reduction in prey biomass and pollution. Developmental projects such as dams and barrages, and aquaculture activities have taken their toll on wetlands and consequently on the otters. Poaching, however, remains a major threat to their survival. The study was envisaged to appraise the impacts of making of dams on the ecology of otters in Corbett Tiger Reserve, since it is believed that the habitat of otters got fragmented due to the creation of a dam on the Ramganga River under the Kalagarh Multipurpose Hydroelectric Project. It is generally believed that dams affect otter. In the Corbett Tiger reserve both smooth-coated and Eurasian otter have been reported. Our preliminary survey revealed that at the low lying areas such as the Ramganga, Mandal and Palain rivers, smooth-coated otter occurs. This study complies with smooth coated otter limited to the above mentioned areas only and data were collected for winter and summer seasons respectively between 2001 and 2004. The study was conducted with the following objectives: (a) To study the status and distribution pattern of otters in the Corbett Tiger Reserve and the adjacent aquatic ecosystems. (b) To examine the Resource use pattern of otters in relation to habitat and food availability. (c) To study the potential threats to otter populations in the study area.Item An ecological study on the pheasants of Great Himalayan National Park, Western Himalaya.(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2003) Ramesh, K.; Rawat, G.S.The primary focus of the study was to describe the ecological and spatial distribution of three sympatric pheasant species, namely, Himalayan monal (Lophophorus impejanus), koklass (Pucrasia macrolopha) and western tragopan (Tragopan melanocephalus) in the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP; 31 0 33' - 31 0 57' N and 770 17' - 770 52' E) in Himachal Pradesh, India. The specific were to: (i) review and test the currently available count techniques and provide estimates of relative abundance; (ii) document group size characteristics; (iii) describe habitat preference and investigate species coexistence; and (iv) develop a spatial model to predict availability of the potential habitats and the probability of occurrence of the study species. The study design included three broad approaches, namely, 1) field sampling, to estimate relative abundance and other behavioral and ecological parameters, 2) associative approach, to establish a relationship between the ecological distribution of the study species and habitat characteristics, and 3) Geographical Information System (GIS) based predictive spatial modelling. An area of 16 km2 was selected within GHNP, based on reconnaissance survey and literature, to serve as an intensive study areaItem Conservation ecology of the endangered diurnal primates and gaur in Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary, Tripura.(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2006) Dasgupta, Sabyasachi; Gupta, A.K.; Sankar, K.The aim of the study was to prepare land cover & vegetation maps, quantify vegetation structure and composition in different vegetation types, and assess the status, distribution and habitat use and feeding ecology of capped langur (Trachypithecus pileatus), hoolock gibbon (Bunopithecus hoolock), pig-tailed macaque (Macaca nemestrina) and gaur (Bos gaums gaums) in Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS) (23° 12' - 23° 32' N to 91° 15' - 91° 30' E), Tripura. Attempt was made to discuss single species vs. multi species approach in conservation and suggest conservation recommendations for the study species and the vegetation resources of the study area.Fieldwork was carried out between January 2002 and June 2004.Item Aspects of ecology of Hangul (Cervus elephas hanglu) in Dachigam National Park, Kashmir, India.(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2006) Ahmad, Khursheed; Sathyakumar, S.; Qureshi, QamarThe Hangul or Kashmir Stag (Cervus elaphus hanglu) is a highly threatened species that has a restricted distribution confined to the Kashmir region. The Hangul is a one of the four eastern most subspecies of Red Deer of Europe (Cervus elaphus) and belongs to order Artiodactyla (even-toed animals) and family Cervidae or deer family. Compared to a very wide global distribution of Red deer, the Hangul has had a limited global distribution. Hangul were once distributed widely in the mountains of Kashmir in an arc of 40 Km extending from Karen in Kishenganga catchments in Bandipora over to Dorus in Lolab valley and Erin catchments in Bandipora to Chinab valley in Kishtwar. Some population of Hangul also occurred in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh. However, during the recent past Hangul appears to have drastically declined from its past distribution range, possibly due to large scale biotic pressures owing to poaching, habitat fragmentation and degradation. At present the last surviving population of Hangul occurs only in 171 Km2 Dachigam National Park, although some relic populations also occur in the adjoining areas. The population of Hangul in Kashmir in 1900 was 3,000 and in 1947, there were 2,000 Hangul still surviving. But ten years later, the population got drastically reduced to about 400 individuals, and in 1970 Hangul population estimated was 140 - 170. The recent censuses carried out by the State Wildlife Protection Department in 2004 puts the Hangul population between 209-243 individuals. The most alarming threat to Hangul in Dachigam has been reported to be the excessive over grazing in the alpine meadows of Upper Dachigam by livestock including sheep and goat of the Government Sheep Breeding Farm located in Dachigam National Park. The past studies carried out in Dachigam National Park have shown that the range of Hangul In Dachigam National Park is restricted to Lower Dachigam with eastern boundaries at Gratnar, Waskhar and west of Dagwan. Keeping in view the given background and based on my preliminary surveys in in the first year of this study, the intensive study was carried out upto the above given boundaries of Lower Dachigam. There have been very little studies on Hangul compared to extensive studies carried out on its conspecifics Red Deer and Elk, and Himalayan Ungulates. There is still a lack of baseline information on the aspects of Hangul ecology prerequisite of its effective management and conservation planning. This stl1dy was as such initiated after a wildlife research gap of about 15 years in Kashmir valley in general and Dachigam in particular. This study was aimed at enhancing our scientific knowledge on the aspects of Hangul ecology such as population, habitat use and feeding ecology which are prerequisite of its effective long term management and conservation planning. During the study period (February 2001 to December 2004) a total of 693 surveys were carried out in these transects and survey blocks putting a total of 5668 km and 1839 hours effort, and a total of 326 Hangul sightings were recorded. All these Hangul sightings were recorded in lower Dachigam in an area of 41.20 km2 out of the total area of 171 Km2 of Dachigam National Park.Item Diversity and rarity in avifaunal assemblages in the western Himalaya: A study of patterns and mechanisms.(Wildlife Institute of India, 2006) Raza, Rashid H.; Mathur, V.B.; Gaston, Kevin J.This study focuses on patterns of diversity and rarity in the avifaunalassemblages of the Western Himalaya. It attempts to find patterns at a regional scale using a secondary database and through field studies at landscape scales at two intensive study sites, Kedarnath area and Goriganga valley in Uttaranchal. The study adopts a macroecological approach in arriving at statistical generalizations emerging from the analyses of distribution and abundance patterns of birds along the altitudinal gradient. The study identifies key patterns of composition, species abundances and species diversity seen in the Western Himalayas and attempts to understand some of the mechanisms associated with these patterns.