WII Technical Reports/Books/Manuals
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Item World heritage biodiversity programme for India(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2003) Mathur, V.B.; Krishnaswamy, Jagdish; Singsit, S.; Bawa, Kamajit S.; Ishwar, N.M.; Vanak, Abi TamimIndia, one of the earliest signatories to the World Heritage Convention has five key Protected Areas currently on UNESCO’s World Heritage List - Kaziranga and Manas in Assam, Keoladeo Ghana in Rajasthan, Sundarbans in West Bengal and Nanda Devi in Uttaranchal. All five sites satisfy the natural heritage criterion ‘contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science and conservation’ (iv) and hence are critical to the preservation of globally Significant biodiversity. A strong potential exists to build and to strengthen the constellation of India’s World Heritage Biodiversity (WHB) sites in ways that are exemplary and beneficial for the larger network of PAs in India and abroad. The World Heritage Convention also offers a unique possibility in India to link nature and culture in innovative ways to promote conservation of species like the tiger and the elephant at a nation-wide scale. India presents the greatest challenge anywhere in the world for integrating conservation and development on a grand scale, and success here could have major implications for other parts of the developing world. The WHB sites symbolize humanity's struggle to conserve the earth's precious biological heritage against its own onslaught of nature. Combined with other Protected Areas such as National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries, WHB sites represent the last stand of the nature and the best hope for humanity to conserve our most precious endowment. India represents a remarkable example of successful efforts to conserve significant amounts of biodiversity against all odds. Despite the presence of more than one billion people, India has managed to place 154,826 km? of its land area under its PA network. Considerable amount of biodiversity also occurs in habitats outside protected areas. Furthermore, protected areas in India are among the best-managed reserves in the developing world. The WHB sites and other Protected Areas in India, however, remain highly vulnerable to degradation. As islands, these areas are surrounded by harsh biophysical landscapes and alienated local communities. The PA management is not fully equipped to deal with the growing threats to the parks. The staff is inadequately trained in the enforcement of laws protecting wildlife. In some cases such as Manas in the northeast, field staff is demoralized, having suffered setbacks due to insurgency and social turmoil in the area. Moreover, the field staff have neither access to good communications nor to facilities for health and education for themselves and their families and the basic infrastructure required for the effective management of the PAs are generally lacking. World Heritage Biodiversity Programme for . At higher levels, the park management has been unable to incorporate concepts of conservation science and wildlife management in developing management plans. Since parks represent habitat islands surrounded by dissimilar habitats with high densities of human populations, changes inside the park due to intrinsic and extrinsic factors are inevitable. However, there is no significant effort to adopt a systems approach to anticipate and predict future changes. Continuous assessment and monitoring of biodiversity are almost non-existent. The "island" status of the World Heritage sites also makes them highly vulnerable to anthropogenic pressures. Although these islands are connected to varying degrees with other natural habitats, there have been no comprehensive efforts to examine the feasibility of establishing habitat connectivity in areas containing the WBH sites. Since the areas surrounding sites are even more vulnerable to human pressures than the WBH sites, it is critical to examine the potential of connection among natural areas wherever these sites are located and to bring these areas under greater protection. A more serious problem is the lack of local community involvement in conservation efforts. Local communities in many cases remain hostile to the idea that the parks cannot be used for their traditional purposes of grazing, fishing, or extraction of fuel wood and non-timber forest products. Wild animals from the parks also pose a danger to their livestock, crops and houses, thus exacerbating the conflict. Thus, local communities perceive conservation legislation as a threat to their livelihoods. Although there are economic benefits from conservation, such as ecotourism, such benefits generally do not accrue to local communities. Protected areas also have a low profile. The civil society in general is not aware of the importance and in some cases even the existence of World Heritage sites. Although the protected areas have a tremendous educational potential, educational institutions hardly ever use world heritage sites for educational purposes. A new initiative funded by the United Nations Foundation (UNF) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and coordinated by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India initially covering four existing and ten proposed World Heritage Cluster Sites in India has been initiated to address the key conservation and management issues within a single new framework. This framework referred to as the ‘World Heritage Biodiversity Programme for India (WHBPI)’ has been developed through a collaborative planning process by the, Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE). The ten year WHBP' will have two phases of four and six years each. Four of the existing five WHB sites in India namely Kaziranga, Keoladeo, Manas and Nanda Devi National Parks have been included in the WHBPI. programme as it is receiving a similar support from the Asian Development Bank under the ‘Sunderbans Biodiversity Project’. The goal of the WHBPI is to strengthen biodiversity conservation in Protected Areas by \ building replicable models at WHB sites that emphasize law enforcement, promote habitat integrity and connectivity, enhance the role of local communities in Protected Area management, improve the professional, social and political profile of the Protected Area management community and its civil society partners. The specific objectives of WHBP! are to: 1) increase the capacity of the staff to address critical needs in conservation, management and protection of the WHB sites, (2) enable the . park staff to incorporate principal concepts of modem science in management plans, (3) increase the connectivity among natural areas in the vicinity of the WHB sites, (4) enhance the stake and the involvement of local communities in the management and the protection of the parks, (5) raise the profile of the WHB sites in civil society, (6) bring about policy and governance reforms so that the management have the flexibility to address contemporary challenges to the conservation of biodiversity in the parks, and (7) conduct surveys at sites that may be designated as additional World Heritage. Biodiversity cluster sites.Item Priority areas for ecological assessment along samruddi corridor, Maharashtra, India: preliminary report(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2019) WIIGlobal conservation strategies depend strongly on the creation and strengthening of the protected area network. However, several protected areas are facing new challenges of development In their surroundings leading to habitat f fragmentation and species loss. Roads are essential transport infrastructure to support India's endeavors of fulfilling vital transportation needs across the country. In the last decade, negative impacts of road network has been significant. .Special attention. is therefore required to protect wildlife values like corridors and distribution ranges of wildlife species that overlay the alignment of the expressway. The task, therefore, is to foresee conservation beyond protected areas that undergo modification due to growing infrastructural development, which eventually exerts pressure on protected areas. Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has proposed to build a smart green expressway connecting Nagpur to Mumbai. The highway aims at strengthening the rural agriculture sector while enhancing mobility. Although, the proposed alignment does not cross through any existing protected areas nevertheless MSRDC has envisaged developing the road as wildlife friendly infrastructure aiming at conservation outside protected area network. The objective of this report is to assist MSRDC and Government of Maharashtra in addressing ecological concerns at an early stage of planning the highway for safeguarding wildlife values. The preliminary report by the Wildlife Institute of India provides a framework for the protection of wildlife along the proposed alignment (701 km) of Nagpur Mumbai expressway, Maharashtra, India. This report aims at developing a roadmap to assess and evaluate ecological implications of future road development in the landscape with special emphasis on wildlife corridor function. Relevant mitigation measures shall avoid these impacts (direct, indirect and cumulative) of road infrastructure on various wildlife taxa and their habitats within the three landscapes of Maharashtra. The consecutive assessments conducted post this report will provide a strategic mitigation plan to present and minimize impacts of the proposed expressway on ecological habitats and wildlife. The Nagpur-Mumbai expressway is planned to be the first of Its kind project, where mitigation measures for wildlife are planned before? the road is built. This report helps in identifying the Important wildlife habltats that may require further assessment to design appropriate mitigation structuresItem Ecology and conservation of the Grasslands of Eravikulam National Park, Western Ghats(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 1998) Karunakaran, P.V.; Rawat, G.S.; Uniyal, V.K.An ecological study on the montane grasslands of Eravikulam National Park (ENP), the Western Ghats, was conducted during 1992-1996, with the following objectives: (i). to prepare a complete floristic inventory of the grasslands of ENP, (ii). to identify the grassland communities, their structure, function and successional trends along the anthropogenic gradient, (iii). to determine the forage quantity in different ecological conditions and (iv). to study the effect of fire and tree plantations on the grasslands. : The ENP lies between 10° 5' to 10°20' N and 77° to 77°10' E with an area of 97 km? in the Southern Western Ghats. The average altitude of the plateau is 2000 m and the highest peak, Anamudi, reaches 2695 m. Soil was acidic with pH ranging from 4.6 to 4.8. The climate was dominated by monsoon. During the study period the annual rainfall ranged from 4697 to 5540 mm. Winter days (Nov- Jan) were cooler and frost was common. The two distinct physiognomic units of vegetation are grasslands and sholas, unique to the Western Ghats. 3: The study area was stratified into eight landscape units viz., slope without rocky outcrops, slope with rocky outcrops, flat top, valley, bog, shola-grassland edge, cattle grazed and scraped areas. Systematic surveys and vegetation parameters such as species association, frequency, diversity, evenness and richness were studied in each landscape unit by laying 5 m radius. 4. 308 plant species were collected from the grasslands, adding 106 new species to the earlier list. 51 species were found to be endemic to the grasslands and 29 were listed as rare and endangered species. There were 64 species common with Eastern Ghats, 30 species with Patanas of Sri Lanka, 35 with Western Himalaya and 35 with Naga and Khasi hills indicating phytogeographical affinities with different biogeographic zones. D! Vegetation association was derived using ‘TABLE TRANSFER METHOD’ and TWINSPAN (computer packages). TABLE TRANSFER method identified 23 vegetation associations and TWINSPAN identified 15 associations. In both the analyses it was found that Chrysopogon zeylanicus and Sehima nervosum were the two dominant species. The diversity index (H’) of the associations ranged from 1.38 in the Artemisia nilagirica-Heteropogon contortus-Cymbopogon flexuosus (cattle grazed area) to 2.90 in Agrostis peninsularis-Eulalia phaeothrix-Chrysopogon zeylanicus in the shola-grassland edges. Vegetation ordination i.e., Canonical Correspondance Analysis (CANOCO) indicated that clay, pH and sand were important environmental factors which determined the species distribution and abundance.6. Biomass study was conducted at three sites in three dominant communities viz., Chrysopogon zeylanicus, Sehima nervosum and Cymbopogon flexuosus. Clipping was done both inside the exclosure and outside to obtain net primary productivity (NPP). The NPP values showed that these grasslands are between tropical and temperate grasslands . Outside the exclosures NPP was maximum at Eravikulam and minimum at Lakkamkudi. But inside the exclosures all the three sites were having nearly equal amount of NPP. Above ground biomass (ANP) was maximum at Eravikulam inside the exclosures and less at Rajamala, where as below ground (BNP) biomass was more at Rajamala and less at Lakkamkudi. Rate of biomass production was more (3.1 g m day!) at Eravikulam inside the exclosure and less (0.8 gm? day!) at Lakkamkudi outside the exclosures. In all the communities monocots contributed more to the ANP (59-97 %) than dicots (3-41%). In Lakkamkudi Pteridium aquilinum (fern) contributed 10 % to the ANP. Sehima nervosum, Heteropogon contortus and Chrysopogon zeylanicus were the three dominant grass species according to ANP. The annual removal of ANP by cattle and wild ungulate from Lakkamkudi was 68 %. Z. Burning (early and late) was done in S. nervosum (Anamudi) and C. zeylanicus (Rajamala) community. It was found that both in the early and late burnt areas no significant changes were noticed on species diversity, richness and evenness. Regarding the structure of the vegetation, cover value of dicots showed significant difference between early and late burnt in different months. Both early and late burning affected the regeneration of Phlebophyllum kunthianum. 8. A comparison of various sites with different density and age of wattle plantations with unplanted area showed that the number of endemic species and food species of Nilgiri tahr decreased with increase in the age of plantation. The increase in weed abundance with the age of plantation indicated more harm to the natural vegetation. The diversity index (H’) was 2.64 in 10 year old plantation and 1.87 in 3 year old. TWINSPAN identified two plant species associations each in unplanted, 3 year old and five year old plantations, and four in 10 year old plantation. 9. The study recommends the following research and management strategies for the long term conservation of Shola-Grassland ecosystems and endangered Nilgiri tahr: (a) inclusion of adjecent reserved forests with shola-graslands in the park, (b) boundary verification and better patrolling to check the illegal activities and fire hazards, (c) early burning in selected areas on experimental basis, (d) control of black wattle spreading, (e) eco-development measures for the Lakkamkudi village, (f) better tourism management and (g) long term monitoring of exclosures and representative shola-grassland patches.Item Patterns of Mortality in Free Ranging Tigers(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2016) Nigam, Parag; Muliya, S.K.; Srivastav, A.; Malik, P.K.; Shrivastava, A.B.; Mathur, V.C.This study initiated an effort to maintain a centralized database of all tiger mortality events that are reported in India to address this shortcoming. We have initiated an attempt to study mortality patterns of tigers inhabiting landscapes in India based on available reports of mortality events in tigers from this databaseItem Management of Forests in India for Biological Diversity and Forests Productivity, A New Perspective - Volume IV : Garo Hills Conservation Area (GCA)(WII-USDA Forest Service, 2002) Kumar, A.; Gupta, A.K.; Marcot, B.G.; Saxena, A.; Singh, S.P.; Marak, T.T.C.The principal aim of the project was to demonstrate an approach to achieving integration of concerns in India for biological diversity, forest based products, and their sustained flow in support of technological, economic and social benefits to urban and rural sector lifestyles. To accomplish this, the project set forth the following six objectives that addressed ecological assessment in “conservation areas” that included relatively undisturbed forest ecosystems, managed forests with current forestry interventions under a variety of harvest systems, and intervening matrix landscapes that support subsistence and related market based rural economies.Item Management of Forests in India for Biological Diversity and Forests Productivity, A New Perspective - Volume III: Anaimalai Conservation Area (ACA).(WII-USDA Forest Service, 2002) Sajeev T.K.; Srivastava, S.K.; Raphael, Martin G.; Dutt, Sugato; Ramachandran, N.K.; Tyagi, Praveen C.The principal aim of the project was to demonstrate an approach to achieving integration of concerns in India for biological diversity, forest based products, and their sustained flow in support of technological, economic and social benefits to urban and rural sector lifestyles. To accomplish this, the project set forth the following six objectives that addressed ecological assessment in “conservation areas” that included relatively undisturbed forest ecosystems, managed forests with current forestry interventions under a variety of harvest systems, and intervening matrix landscapes that support subsistence and related market based rural economies.Item Management of forests in India for Biological Diversity and Forests productivity, A new perspective - Vol. VI : Terai Conservation Areas (TCA)(WII-USDA Forest Service, 2002) Kumar, H.; Mathur, P.K.; Lahmkuhl, J.F.; Khati, D.V.S.; De, R.; Longwah, W.The principal aim of the project was to demonstrate an approach to achieving integration of concerns in India for biological diversity, forest based products, and their sustained flow in support of technological, economic and social benefits to urban and rural sector lifestyles. To accomplish this, the project set forth the following six objectives that addressed ecological assessment in “conservation areas” that included relatively undisturbed forest ecosystems, managed forests with current forestry interventions under a variety of harvest systems, and intervening matrix landscapes that support subsistence and related market based rural economies. Project Objectives : • Assess, document, and map the kinds, extent and distribution of plant and animal diversity in selected ”conservation areas” through rapid survey methods.• Use existing status and habitat relationships information to set up baseline habitat relationships information system. • From stand-to landscape-level perspectives, evaluate the impact of existing forestry practices and use of forest-based resources by local people, including methods of harvests and collection, fires, operation of varied concessions and rights on micro habitat elements, key habitats, species, communities, the overall forest productivity and diversity. • Rapidly assess the social and economic systems of surrounding villages in terms of varied land use and forest resource dependency, including raising and grazing of domestic livestock, other vocations, skills, economy, and markets. These will be seen in relationship to forest systems. Threats to ecological harmony and economical status of people will be documented. • Use modern ecological concepts to develop practical management tools and practices for bringing about harmony within and between forest and village systems through sustainable land use practices that make social and economic sense. Document problems and threat mitigation prescriptions, and develop site specific field guides to management. • Conduct workshops and seminars to share experiences, disseminate knowledge, and begin the process of training scientists and managersItem A Preliminary Study on the Ecology of the Leopard, Panthera pardus fiisca in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Maharashtra(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun., 1998) Edgaonkar, Advait; Chellam, RaviA preliminary study of the ecology of the leopard, Panthera pardus fusca, was done at Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in Maharashtra. The diet of the leopard was determined by analysing leopard scats. The major prey of the leopards was found to be domestic dogs, domestic buffalos and rodents. Primates, including rhesus macaques, bonnet macaques and common langurs and cervids, comprising chital, sambar and barking deer were also preyed on. Sections of 8 dirt roads, termed as trails T1 to T8, were monitored for intensity of leopard use. An index of prey abundance, human disturbance, stalking cover and density of trees along the trails was calculated. Intensity of use of trails by leopards was not related to the measured habitat parameters of the trails. Instances of leopard-human conflict was analysed using secondary records of the Maharashtra State Forest Department from 1986 to 1996. It was found that most instances of conflict occurred in summer and monsoon seasons. Seventy eight per cent of the deaths were of children. Awareness about leopards and attitudes towards them were quantified using a questionnaire. Tribals showed a more positive attitude score than non tribals. No such difference was seen far awareness. There were no differences in awareness and attitude among literate and illiterate people. A positive correlation between awareness scores and attitude scores was found. Suggestions for the management of leopards in SGNP include the experimental augmentation of the prey base with wild caught ungulates, monitoring for domestic dog transmitted disease, avoiding reintroduction of leopards trapped on the periphery and outside the Park boundaries into the Park and monitoring far inbreeding depression by comparing the percentage of abnormal sperm in samples from male leopards in SGNP with those from a larger population of free ranging leopards elsewhere in the country.Item Conservation of red junglefowl Gallus gallus in India : final report(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2012) Sathyakumar, S.; Fernandes, Merwyn; Mukesh; Kaul, R.; Kalsi, R.S.The Red Junglefowl (RJF) is believed to be the wild ancestor of all domestic chicken in the world. there still exist a strong ethno-cultural bond where the wild males are used to invigorate the domestic stock in order to enhance the first generation individuals that are used in the context of cultural and religious relevance. Concerns were raised on the genetic endangerment of RJF due to introgression of domestic genes into the wild population. There needs to address these concerns and maintain uncontaminated RJF population in wild and captivity. keeping this in view, the Wildlife Institute of India, carried out a research project from 2006 to 2011 in two phases that dealt with status, distribution, genetic diversity, interactions between wild RJF and domestic chicken and introgression of domestic genes into the wild and captive stocks. The RJF listed in the “Least Concern” category of IUCN with an extent of occurrence of about 5,100,000 km2. One of the subspecies G g murghi has its distribution within India. In order to address the issues of status and distribution we resorted to using presence-only models. These models overcome the cost and time constraints when dealing with a large ranging species. Species site locations were all collated by using primary field data, network of field biologist, literature records, museum specimens and archived databases. A total of 500 georectified data points were used along with predictable variables such as bioclimatic factors, digital elevation model and forest cover. These variables were used to run maximum entropy models using the product function, the test data has an AUC score of 0.979, the jackknife test for variable importance was annual precipitation and precipitation of the driest quarter that contributed 46% to the model. The total predicted probability suitable area in India is approx 354,978 km2. There are three distinct landscapes within India namely north (12%), central (52%) and northeastern (36%).The central landscape is isolated and does not connect either to the north or northeastern landscape. The north and northeastern landscape is connected to each other through the forest patches in Bhutan and Nepal. PA network accounts for nearly 13% of the area with the National Parks (34) representing 4.32% and the Wildlife Sanctuaries (135) representing 8.52%, while nearly 90% of the area lies outside the purview of the PA network system. The species is still reported from 205 districts out of the 270 districts in range 21 states. Genetic diversity, population differentiation and phylogenetic analysis of RJF populations were assessed in 19 RJF range states of India. In total, 385 samples (306 RJF & 79 domestic chickens) were collected and genotyped with 26 microsatellite markers. Altogether, 628 alleles were observed across five RJF and one domestic chicken population. Observed and effective number of alleles ranged from 9 to 49 and 2.96 to 12.40 with mean (± s.e.) number of alleles 24.15 (± 8.31) and 6.50 (± 2.71), respectively. Effective number of alleles was less than the observed number of alleles for all the loci. The overall observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.23 and 0.79, with mean value of 0.52 ± 0.13, while expected heterozygosity ranged 0.62 to 0.92 with mean value of 0.82 ± 0.08. PIC value ranged from 0.56 to 0.91 with mean value 0.80 (±0.09) and therefore all microsatellite markers were informative in the present study. Mean observed number of alleles & mean observed heterozygosity was highest in Northern RJF population, i.e. Na 21.12 ±7.14 & Ho 0.61 ±0.17 and lowest in central RJF population, i.e. Na 1.92 ±0.89 & Ho 0.35 ±0.42, respectively. Total number of private alleles ranged from 1 to 179 in South-Eastern and Northern RJF population, respectively while no private was found in Central RJF population. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed a total of 6% variation was attributed to among populations while 94% variance was within population. The minimum population differentiation or maximum gene flow was between Northern and Eastern RJF population (Nm 10.846) while maximum population differentiation or minimum gene flow was between Central and Eastern RJF population (Nm 0.911). The overall, Nm values were quite high, suggesting the high gene flow among RJF populations. Nei's genetic distance indicated that the Central Indian RJF population is least similar or most distant (DA= 0.942) with domestic chicken, while the northeastern RJF population is most identical or least genetically distant (DA = 0.255) with domestic chicken. The UPGMA dendrogram was generated based on Nei’s genetic distance. The RJF populations in India formed three clusters: (i) central and southeastern, (ii) northern and eastern, and (iii) northeastern and domestic chicken. The multi-factorial correspondence analysis also revealed the similar pattern of clustering the RJF populations. In order to study interactions, observation were recorded from 13 sites with mixed groups all observations were in the pre-dawn hours. A total of 51 encounters were recorded. The interest was to elucidate whether an interaction between the wild and domestics fowls was mutualistic or agnostic during the breeding and nonbreeding season. From the 10 observation recorded during the breeding season there were no interaction between the wild and feral population suggesting that there might be a spatial segregation between these two populations. While interactions during the nonbreeding season suggest that that males are intolerable to each other when in close proximity, while the females are tolerated and move about freely within the groups. Genetic characterisation and maintaining studbooks is the key step towards formulating management action plan for conservation breeding or release program for any captive species. We collected 220 RJF samples (blood/feathers) from 14 captive centers and investigated population genetic structure and admixture analysis of RJF with domestic chicken using 23 highly polymorphic microsatellite markers. Bayesian clustering analysis revealed three distinct groups that indicated the genetic integrity among the birds of 14 centers. We presumed genetic integrity would have been resulted due to exchange of birds between zoos or the founders would have been introduced from the same wild population. The global performance of STRUCTURE assigning individuals was 169/220=76.81% while 8.63% individuals remained unassigned to any of three clusters. Each RJF stock was independently investigated for admixture analysis with a pooled domestic chicken population and ten birds were found to be hybrids out of 220 birds collected from 14 captive centers. based on the study, we recommend the following As this study could not survey all areas within RJF’s distribution range, we suggest that there is a need to increase efforts to understand whether the species is prevalent within forested tracts outside the PA network, especially Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh where the present distribution is highly fragmented with growing pressures on the existing PA of these States. Similarly, in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Maharashtra, extensive field surveys should be carried out to ascertain the presence/absence and exact distribution limits of RJF as these States encompass the limits or edges of the distribution range of this species. Special focus surveys/studies are required at range overlaps between G.g. murghi and G.g. spadiceus (northeastern States) and also between RJF and Grey Junglefowl (central India). Based on our samples collected from zoos/captive centres (Table 5.1), admixed bird were identified (Table 5.4). These admixed individuals (hybrids between RJF and domestic chicken) that are kept in zoos/captive centres should be removed from these captive stocks to avoid any further hybridisation. They should not be exchanged with any other zoos/captive centres and should not be released back into the wild. The list of individual birds in the zoos/captive centres that have been identified as ‘not admixed’ have been provided to these centres. For RJF individuals in zoos/captive centres that were not sampled during the study or born or added after the sampling, similar genetic analysis should be carried out. Such individuals should not be used /exchanged for any breeding programme. As there are chances of silent breeding between RJF and domestic chicken, hence the use of domestic hens as foster parents should be avoided.Item Assessment of the landscape between the Gir Protected Area and the Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Gujarat for a potential lion habitat corridor(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2012) Jhala, Y.V.; Qureshi, Q.; Basu, P.; Banerjee, KaushikIn this report, assess the habitat characteristics, extent of fragmentation and its future trends, prey abundance and perception of the local communities towards lion conservation in the agro-pastoral landscape between the Gir PA and the Girnar forests to help in delineating the important dispersal corridor habitat between the Gir PA and the Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary, suggesting measures for its effective conservation