M Sc Dissertation(WII)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://192.168.202.180:4000/handle/123456789/3
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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, QamarPopulation 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, pItem Home Range, Ranging Patterns and Abundance Estimation of Golden Jackals in the BHAL Region of Gujarat(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2001) Aiyadurai, Ambika; Jhala, Y.V.Studied Golden Jackals (Canis aureus) in the Bhal area of Gujarat using radiotelemetry. Six jackals were trapped in Velavadar.National Park during November and December 2000 using rubber-padded leg-hald traps. The average home range size of jackals was estimated to be 14. 30 ± 4.06 sq. km. The core areas of jackal home ranges were highly correlated with vegetation cover. Habitats preferred for core areas were Prosopis juliflora and grasslands. Jackals ranged an average distance of 6.8 ± 0.91 km in a night. Most movements were out of the park to surrounding villages, which were rich in food resources for jackals. I evaluated two techniques to estimate jackal abundance namely the track plot method and simulated howling responses method in six areas differing in jackal abundances in the Bhal and Kutch regions. The latter technique gave a better resolution of abundance categories within the study sites.