M Sc Dissertation(WII)

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    Visitation Pattern of Mammalian Communities at Waterholes in Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2021) Yathumon, M.A.; Nigam, Parag; Habib, Bilal; Gopi, G.V.
    Waterholes are an important component of management practices in wildlife conservation, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. It is of high conservation and management significance as it is a spatially restricted resource for wildlife. I studied visitation pattern of mammals at 54 waterholes in the core zone of Tadoba - Andhari Tiger Reserve, a dry deciduous forest in the central India. Visitations of mammal species were monitored continuously for four months using camera traps. Visitation frequencies of mammals at the waterholes were checked and compared between winter and summer seasons. Influences of (i) physical attributes of waterholes, (ii) distance between the waterholes and adjacent permanent water sources, (iii) distance to nearest road and (iv) the presence of tourism in the nearest road, on the visitations of mammals at waterholes were studied. It was found that there are differences in the number of visitations, total time spent and the average time spent in a visitation between mammal species and between same species in different seasons. Size of waterholes and artificial water supplementation influenced the visitations of some mammals at waterholes. Overlaps in the temporal visitation patterns of the prey species with that of the predator species were different for ambush predators and pursuit predators.
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    Evaluating the importance of scale in estimating tiger populations
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2007) Contractor, Deep; Jhala, Y.V.; Qureshi, Qamar
    Population estimation is one of the most important aspects of ecological studies as it plays a pivotal role in establishing priorities for species specific conservation and for delineating management practices. The tiger serves as a flagship and umbrella species for conservation efforts in the Indian subcontinent but, unfortunately wild tiger populations are on a drastic decline owing to factors like poaching, habitat fragmentation and degradation. In such a scenario reliable population estimates prove to be of vital importance. Camera trapping technique has been widely used for population estimation of cryptic carnivores including tigers. An attempt was made, through this study, to arrive at population and density estimates for Corbett NP through camera trapping technique following the mark recapture framework and answering some key questions regarding the importance of sampling effort required for arriving at such reliable estimates. A total of 7865 trap nights yielded 358 captures of 103 individual tigers within an intensively sampled area of (MCP) 420.86 km2. The estimated density of tiger was 16.01 (±1.6) per 100 km2 for RPSV, a new approach to calculate effectively sampled area. These estimates coincided with the estimates using full MMDM method. Also, the conventional method of using half MMDM seems to overestimate the density. The estimated sampling effort required for arriving at accurate and precise estimates of the true population in terms of sampling occasions amounted to 35 - 40 days. Evaluation of the influence of trap density revealed that high trap density (25 traps/km2 ca.) is required to get reliable estimates of population irrespective of the underlying population/density gradient.