WII Technical Reports
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Item Ecology of leopard (Panthera pardus) in Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan : Executive summary(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2013) Sankar, K.; Qureshi, Q.; Jhala, Y.V.; Mondal, K.; Gupta, S.; Chourasia, P.Item Ecology of lion in agro-pastoral Gir landscape, Gujarat - Final project report(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2014) Jhala, Y.V.; Banerjee, K.; Basu, P.Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica) is a conservation icon and elucidates India’s conservation commitments. However, with single isolated population with small founder base, it typifies all the formidable challenges of global carnivore conservation. Once ranged from Persia to Palamau in eastern India, lions were almost driven to extinction by indiscriminate hunting and habitat loss. A single relict population of less than 50 lions persisted in the Gir forests of Gujarat by 1890's. With stringent protection offered by the Nawabs of Junagadh and subsequently by the State run Gujarat Forest department, Gir lions have increased to a current population of over 400. This also accompanied with an increase in the extent of the species. Lions were restricted to the Gir forests (1,800 km2) till the early 1980's, but have since dispersed to occupy over 10,000 km2 of human dominated agro-pastoral landscape of Saurashtra. Currently lions occupy human-dominated Saurashtra landscape encompassing the Gir Protected Area (PA), 180 km2 Girnar forests and over 8,000 km2 of coastal scrublands and agro-pastoral landscapes of Junagadh, Amreli and Bhavnagar districts. However, the lion population is believed to be inbred and susceptible to extinction events. Moreover, with lions living in close proximity with humans, conflicts are inevitable. Long-term persistence of Gir lions is therefore possible by maintaining a metapopulation structure wherein individual lions from different breeding populations can potentially disperse among these populations. Traditional land-use pattern in Saurashtra is fast changing under urban sprawl and intensive agro-industrial infrastructural developments. Understanding these for planning conservation strategies based on lion ecology and implementing them will ensure lions’ future survival in the Gir landscape. The current study investigates lion ecology with emphasis on space use, resource selection and aspects of human-lion conflicts to assist formulating a viable lion conservation strategy for future. Wildlife Institute of India’s (WII) current project in the Gir landscape has been amongst the few projects within India that has been able to sustain long-term research. On submission of first phase’s findings to the Gujarat Forest Department (GFD) and WII-TRAC through technical reports, an extension for the second phase of this project aiming at studying coastal lion populations was procured in 2011. However, owing to WII’s research involvement in Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh and input in ongoing lion reintroduction legal battle in the Supreme Court, radio-collaring lions were not permitted by GFD after 2011. Therefore, some of the research objectives of the second phase of this project could not be achieved as proposed. However, we continued studying lion ranging and resource selection in the human-dominated Gir landscape based on radio-collared lions before 2011; achieved quantifying landscape architecture in and around Gir PA, assessed lion diet (prey abundance and preference) and evaluated aspects of lion-human conflicts during the tenure of this research project. With lions’ dispersal from the Gir PA in a highly fragmented landscape, we expected to find a gradation in sex and age composition of lions from the ‘source’ Gir PA to peripheral populations (‘sink’). In sink populations the sex ratio and age composition would be skewed with a bias towards males, young dispersal aged lions, and old-ousted lions. We hypothesized that if the lions outside of Gir PA exist in a metapopulation structure, it is likely that subadult dispersal aged lions bide their time in this high risk sink habitats and those that survive return to the Gir PA to claim prime territories. Alternatively dispersing lions from the Gir PA may permanently settle down in “suitable” habitats outside the PA and form breeding populations that occasionally exchange individuals with the Gir PA. It is therefore evident that conservation of ‘source’ (Gir PA) alone may not be a sufficient strategy to ensure long term survival of lions; rather it is enhanced by maintaining connectivity among different metapopulations so as to permit lion movement across human-dominated areas. Landscape architecture and variation of vegetation cover of Gir Protected Area and its surroundings: We used ordination technique (TWINSPAN) and supervised and unsupervised classifications of vegetation plot data (n = 900) using cloud free LANDSAT TM satellite imageries (Bands 1-5 and 7 for the years 1998, 2002 and 2009) to identify vegetation communities within Gir PA. We quantified the rate of change in land use and vegetation patterns within Gir PA between 1998 and 2009 and based on the probability matrix obtained, we simulated land cover map for the Gir PA of 2020 (Figure E.2) with the cellular automata markov analysis tool (CA-MARKOV). Ten vegetation communities were identified in the Gir PA (Figure E.1) i.e. Ziziphus mauritiana-Tectona grandis community, pure Tectona grandis community, mixed teak communities like Wrightia tinctoria-Tectona grandis community and Tectona grandis- Wrightia tinctoria community, Terminalia alata-Tectona grandis-Lannea coromandelica- Acacia catechu community, Boswellia serrata-Acacia catechu community, Acacia catechu- Ziziphus mauritiana community, Anogeissus latifolia-Boswellia serrata community, Terminalia alata-Acacia leucophloea-Anogeissus latifolia-Butea monosperma community, Acacia nilotica-Butea monosperma-Ziziphus mauritiana community. Quality and quantity of different forest types varied substantially during the time period from 1998 to 2009. The trend in land use land cover changes showed thickening of teak dominated forest types inside the Gir PA till 2002 and it might be due to a response to the canopy opening and uprooting of trees after 1984 cyclone following succession of the respective vegetation communities. Our study has demonstrated that although areas under agriculture have increased in 2009 resulting into fragmentation and patchiness of the area, the Gir PA is nevertheless effective in preserving lion's habitats against the alarming rate of forest land transformation into human conducive land use classes outside the PA boundaries. Lion demography: An objective scientifically credible population estimation of lions using individual ID based on mark recapture framework was developed and implemented in the Gir landscape. Demographic parameters of Gir lions were deduced by intensively monitoring 75 adult lions and 91 cubs from 38 litters of 31 females sing telemetry and individual lion ID profiles. Record of opportunistic mortality events (n = 88) was used to understand the mortality causes. A population viability analysis (PVA) model was run for Girnar lions to understand the impact of various stochastic events (epidemics, loss of habitat, poaching) on their long-term persistence. Capture probability of Girnar lions was 0.31 and the population estimate under Mo was 10 (SE 1.2) lions. Average capture probability of lions in the eastern landscape was 0.65 and the population estimate under Mth was 67 (SE 1.1) lions. Adult lion densities were estimated to be 5.6 (SE 0.7) lions/100 km2 in Girnar and 2 (SE 0.1) lions/100 km2 in the eastern landscape. Gir lions increased from about 177 in 1968 to about 411 by 2010 with an r = 0.022 (SE 0.001) translated into an annual population growth of 2.2%. A large proportion of the lion population was in recruitment classes indicative of a healthy growing population. Larger proportion of adult males (43%) than adult females (26%) in the eastern landscape was probably because of male biased dispersals from the ‘source’ Gir PA into the ‘sink’ eastern landscape and lower availability of suitable habitat patches for breeding lionesses in the human-dominated landscape. Male: female ratio was 0.63 (SE 0.04) while cub: adult lioness ratio was 0.37 (SE 0.02). Mating peaked in winter while birth peaked in late summer. Average litter size was 2.39 (SE 0.12). Inter-birth interval was 1.37 (SE 0.25) years (n = 7 lionesses) and was higher [2.25 (SE 0.41) years] when cubs of the previous litter survived to independence. Cub (< 1 year) survival was 0.57 (SE 0.04) while survival from cub to recruitment age (3 years) was 51% (SE 4%) with mortalities due to infanticides being 30% (SE 7 %). Juvenile (1-2 years) and sub-adult (2-3 years) survival rates were 0.87 (SE 0.04)Item Ecology of Asiatic lions in Saurashtra, Gujarat - Final Project report (2011-2016)(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2016) Jhala, Y.V.; Banerjee, K.; Basu, P.; Chakrabarti, S.; Gayen, S.; Gogoi, K.; Basu, A.Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica) is a conservation icon and elucidates a success story of conservation in modern India. With single isolated population and a small founder base, it typifies all the challenges of global carnivore conservation. Lions ranged from Persia to Palamau in eastern India till early 18th century, but were almost driven to extinction by indiscriminate hunting and habitat loss by late 1880‟s. A single relict population of less than 50 lions persisted in the Gir forests of Gujarat by 1890's. With stringent protection offered by the Nawabs of Junagadh and subsequently by the State run Gujarat Forest department, Gir lions have increased to a current population of over 500 accompanied by a subsequent range expansion. Lions were restricted to the Gir forests (1,800 km2) till the early 1980's, but have since dispersed to occupy over 20,000 km2 of human dominated agro-pastoral landscape of Saurashtra. Currently lions occupy the Gir Protected Area (PA), 180 km2 Girnar forests and over 15,000 km2 of coastal scrublands and agro-pastoral landscapes of Junagadh, Amreli, Gir Somnath and Bhavnagar districts. An in-depth understanding is required on how lions live within and outside the Protected Area. The magnitude and dimensions of conflict with human interests, and gene flow between different widely spaced breeding units in light of current and future development within the Greater Gir landscape. The current study investigates lion ecology with emphasis on space use, resource selection and aspects of human-lion conflicts to assist formulating a viable future lion conservation strategy for the landscape. On submission of first phase‟s findings to the Gujarat Forest Department (GFD) and WII-TRAC through technical reports, an extension for the second phase of this project was procured in 2011 with the aim of assisting the managers to formulate landscape level lion conservation policies based on informed research and robust scientific approaches. During the tenure of this project, WII was mandated by the CWLW, Gujarat state to take up three additional research components – 1) assessment of potential habitat corridor landscape between Gir and Girnar and 2) estimation of leopard (Panthera pardus) abundance in Girnar and 3) ecological and social potential of Barda for reintroduction of Asiatic lions. All these components were successfully addressed and findings were communicated to the GFD as individual reports as well as summarized herein.Item A study on Ecology and migration of the Lesser Florican (Sypheotides indica) in Western India using satellite techniques(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2016) Sivakumar, K.; Jhala, Y.V.; Bhardwaj, G.S.; Mohan, A.The Lesser Florican Sypheotides indica, a species endemic to the Indian subcontinent, is largely seen during the monsoon season in north-western India, where it breeds. Its population and range is believed to be decreasing at an alarming rate due to breeding habitat loss and threats in the non-breeding habitats, believed to be in south and south-east India. In this connection, to understand the present status, distribution and non-breeding habitats of Lesser florican in the north-western India i.e. in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, this study was initiated in the month of August 2010, which is a art of breeding season of this species, when most of males display in the grasslands. 2. In 2010, a total of 84 individual Lesser floricans (83 male and 1 female) were sighted in three states of north-western India, which is less than 65% of the sightings reported in 1999. It was found significantly fewer sightings than reported in 1999 in all grasslands surveyed (t=2.81, df=14, p<0.05). Of the 169 potential grasslands available for floricans in the north-western India, 91 grasslands were surveyed, which include grasslands surveyed during 1999. Of the surveyed grasslands, Lesser floricans were found in 24 grasslands as against 37 grasslands in 1999. 3. At Shokhaliya, two male floricans (Florikin I and II) were tagged on 10th of August, 2014 with PTT transmitters that are solar-powered Platform Terminal Transmitters (PTTs: Microwave Telemetry, Inc., Columbia, MD, USA) weighed less than 3% of body mass of birds. 4. FLORIKIN-I: The male florican that was tagged with 18g Agros PPT- 100 (Platform no.125812) had spent 112 days in breeding site and then left the site (Shokaliya) on 11th November 2014. The bird moved for 94 km towards south direction and settled down in grasslands/croplands of north of the Bhilwara, Rajasthan. The bird covered this distance in 5 days and 8 hours (including stopover times) with four stopovers. Each stopover last for one to two days. All the stopovers were in the croplands or fallow lands. Florikin-I flew at the speed of 0.73 km/hr which includes stopover days. The transmitter was active until May 2015. PTT lost the signal when the bird just started moving towards Ajmer from Bhilwara in the month of May, 2015. 5. FLORIKIN-II: He was tagged with 22g GPS/Argos PTT had transmitted data for 35 days after that it failed to function, the reason remained unknown, but it provided much more precise insight into the lekking behavior of this species. The available data shows that the Florican can shift the displaying territory within an arena during a breeding season. Three times this bird had shifted his territory and spent considerable time in each territory. All these three territories of Florikin-II were within the home range of 6.8 sq.km area (MCP100%). The same kind of territory shifting behaviour was observed in Florikin-I as well. 6. Both Florikin I and II, left their territory and moved to a different site after a week of tagging. Total days spent in breeding season/area by Florikin-I were 122 days. During that period the home range of Florican-I was estimated as 12.46sq.km when 5% locations excluded (MCP 95%) and 30sq.km when all location were included (MCP 100%). Similarly, the home range of Florikin-II was within 6.8 sq.km (MCP 100%) 7. Territory shift within Lek Arena was observed in Floricans. Both the tagged floricans could shift the displaying territory but within the arena. Agricultural activities such as weeding, pesticides applications and growth of crops (like Millet) might have also influenced this short distance territory shifts. 8. After the breeding season, one of the tagged florican i.e. Florikin I which had active PTT left the breeding ground on 11th November 2014 to non-breeding grounds. It reached the non-breeding grounds on 15th November 2014 which was 87 km (aerial) 94 km (polygon) away from the breeding ground. During this 87 km long migration, it stopped at four places (nearby villages Goyla (26º 60' 54" N, 74º 55' 36" E), Keriya kurd (26º 03' 43" N, 74º 53' 42" E), Peepaliya (25º 59' 17" N, 74º 49' 52" E) and Sardarpura (25º 49' 21" N, 74º 49' 51" E). All these stopovers were near the water bodies with grasslands. In each stopover that last for one to two days. This bird flew at the speed of 0.73 km/hr which include the stopover time. 9. Habitats of the migratory route of Florikin I were mostly comprised of croplands (Cotton and Millet) with mosaic of grass/herbs cover at least 40% to 50% of the total land cover. 10. Non-breeding habitat of Florikin I was located at Bhilwara, Rajasthan, largely comprising agricultural crops with mosaic of scrub forests consists of Prosopis juliflora. At Bhilwara region, this bird stayed for first 17days at one place where the home range was 6.1 sq.km (MCP 100%) and then moved into another place and stayed for 177 days till 29th March 2015 where the home range was 2.9 sq.km (MCP 100%). The distance between these two non-breeding areas was 9.53 km. 11. General habitat of non-breeding area of florican was Prosophis juliflora (34.18%) followed by Agriculture land with crop and without crop (19.47%), grassland (18.93%), water logged but this land dried during the summer 10.29%), Barren land (8.28%) and human built (6.61%. 12. Though the sample size was low, our study indicate that the all floricans won’t migrate a long distance from the breeding areas. Their non-breeding grounds probably near to breeding areas within distance of 200 to 300 km and gather during the breeding season in the breeding ground. 13. In 2014, the population of floricans was estimated using both traditional (Area Search method) and ‘Occupancy Modelling with Distance Sampling’ methods. Using the Occupancy Model, it was estimated that the population size of floricans was 1091 floricans (689 to 1729) (Uniform cosine function x2 p=80.8, AIC=659.6) and estimation the ESW at 213.7 m ranging 185.3−246.4). Detection probability=0.56 (0.48 to 0.65). The generated global density estimate is 1.19 Floricans per sq.km. However, sightings of floricans in the breeding grounds from 2010 to 2014 were varied between years.Item Ecology of black kites Milvus migrans subsisting on urban resources in Delhi: Black kite Project Phase - III(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2008) Kumar, N.; Gupta, U.; Malhotra, H.; Jhala, Y.V.; Sergio, F.; Gosler, A.; Qureshi, Q.The research team working in the National Capital territory, since December 2012, and through major funding support from the Raptor Research and Conservation Foundation (RRCF), envisioned a long collaborative term study around the urban adaptations of a large raptor, the Black Kite Milvus migrans. Supervised since its inception by Profs. Y. V. Jhala and Q. Qureshi from the Wildlife Institute of India, and Dr. F. Sergio of CSIC, Spain, this project is a unique attempt in the Sub-Continent to holistically unravel the adaptations around Black Kite’s densest urban settlement in the world. We have now established how human cultural practices and attitudes may well be the most defining dimensions of the urban niche of synanthropes like Black Kites (Kumar et al. 2018). Thus, the third phase (August 2016 – July 2018), was a comprehensive assessment of the breeding ecology of Black kites, and their aggressive interaction with residents along the sampled urban gradient within the megacity of Delhi. For this, we used the habitat selection criteria of kites (Kumar et al. 2018) and inspected the behaviour of breeding kites at 101 territories (total 657 visitations), and tested their offspring defence (Kumar et al. in review). We found that defence increases with proximity to ritual-feeding sites and availability of offal, apart from progression in the breeding stage. This period also included the beginning of Phase -IV, an attempt to understand the migration of the Milvus migrans lineatus, the subspecies from the Central Asian Steppes wintering in the urban quarters of the Subcontinent from September to April every year. We deployed 13 GSM e-obs tags and 5 GSM tags from Microwave Telemetry Ltd. USA. These efforts were preceded by Phase-I of the project (December 2012 – June 2014) that focused on basic natural history observations (Kumar et al. 2014), and the Phase-II (July 2014 – July 2016) which further extended the efforts to cover more sampling units, focusing on the aspects of habitat, behaviour and population ecology. The project has now entered its intensive publication stage, as substantial data have now accumulated to enable high-level publications on international scientific outlets, with three publications lined up and ready to enter the genetic and disease components, apart from movement ecology. Finally, the project has incorporated through these initial years: (1) a remarkable amount of environmental education of Delhi citizens; (2) the Master thesis and near -completion of a PhD thesis by N. Kumar at an institute of repute (Oxford University, Department of Zoology, Edward Grey Institute of Ornithology); (3) completion of a Master program by U. Gupta at the Department of Geography of Oxford University; (4) training of more than 100 volunteers and some of them joining institutes of national and international reputation. All in all, the overall research team is extremely satisfied of all the progress and research formation attained and eager to move on to expand and intensify the project even more.Item Diversity and ecolog of herpetofauna of Panna Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh : Final Report(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2019) Das, Abijit; Prasad, V.K.; Murthy, S.This study was conducted to know the status of herpetofauna even in the most protected areas such as Tiger Reserves and National Parks in India to protect the species from any local extinction. Hence, inventory and documentation of herpetofauna in protected areas becomes critical. In order to fill this lacuna, we executed systematic surveys using standard and integrated protocols to document the herpetofauna assemblage in Panna Tiger Reserve. The project was sanctioned for two years starting from 2017 to 2019 with two major seasons of monsoon, post monsoon, summers and winters) to collect data from the field. The objectives of the project are follows as:- To determine the species richness and diversity of herpetofauna in Panna Tiger Reserve. 2. To map and identify the distribution pattern of herpetofauna species with respect to their habitats and breeding sites. 3. To classify the herpetofauna community assemblage across various major habitats and to identify the species diversity, richness and evenness within the various major habitats in Panna Tiger Reserve landscape. 4. To discover and describe any potentially novel species in the region. 5. To obtain the information on species ecology and natural history. Describing ecological and behavioral interaction within species and describe novel characters which be used in species monitoring programmes. 6. To build capacity and create awareness and education amongst the various major stakeholders including forest department, officials, local villagers and students to promote conservation of herpetofauna.Item Spatial ecology of Himalayan Torrent Frog Nanorana vicina (Stolicza, 1872) in response to habitat dynamics : final report(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2021) Das, A.; Nawani, S.Spatial patterns of stream frogs have crucial implications for population dynamics and distribution that can unveil other key aspects of a species ecology. Movement and associated spatial arrangements can have effect on the fitness of both individuals and populations. Comparatively, less information is available on the ecological traits and life history for most of the streams frogs, thus creating a knowledge gap. To better understand the spatial ecology of Nanoran vicina an obligate stream frog endemic to western Himalayas, we conducted three years (2017 - 2020) study in the Himalayan streams nearby Binog wildlife sanctuary (BWLS) for an average of 63 days. We radio tagged and tracked 16 individuals of N. vicina. Our study observation suggest that the species show high philopatry and less vagility with the highest average movement ranging from 5.9 m to 5.07 m. We have also found that the individuals moved more during monsoon (4.25 m/day) than pre - monsoon (2.99 m/day) and least during post monsoon (1.06 m/day). Our results also suggested that the individuals are mostly confined to the pool section of the stream over other habitats such as cascade, run and riffle. Our study on tadpole of the same genus also revealed the preference of tadpoles in the pool. Mean overwintering tadpole density showed varying diurnal and seasonal patterns in the study pools. The nocturnal density was higher in the modified pools than natural pools during winter, while no differences were found during daytime. This pattern changed in the post winter with high nocturnal density in natural pools. We explored the seasonal resource utilization patterns of the tadpoles using habitat availability and use analyses and the present the key findings. We have also provided a checklist of herpetofaunal diversity recorded and natural history observation in the study areas. Thus, the study portrays important ecological observations on the selected species which can be followed in future to imply proper conservation measures to protect these streams from modifications.