M Sc Dissertation(WII)
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Item Spatial pattern of termite mounds and its association with vegetation with experimental insights on mound repair in response to ant diversity(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2025) Vishvavikash, I.K.Termites are considered pests all around the world in Human settlements and agricultural fields. But in Nature, termites are ecosystem engineers, they play a key role in keeping the ecosystem balanced by processing plant material and returning nutrients to the environment. In the African savanna and the Tropical Rainforest of Malaysia, termites are well studied, and termite mounds are considered nutritional hotspots. In the African continent, the genus Macrotermes is well studied, and their distribution mainly depends on the colony size. The larger colony size utilizes more space for foraging around the mound and also shows great intra- and interspecific competition between the colonies. In India, very few studies have been conducted on Termites. In this study, we investigated the spatial ecology of Termite mounds (genus Odontotermes) in the Sal-dominant Forest of Western Rajaji National Park. To understand the spatial ecology of termite mounds, we assessed their spatial distribution patterns using GPS mapping, mound morphometric characteristics, the influence of surrounding vegetation, and soil chemical properties. We studied the mound repair dynamics of the termites with respect to the predatory pressure exerted by the surrounding mound organisms. We created artificial breaches in termite mounds to monitor repair rates, while pitfall traps around mounds assessed ant diversity and abundance in the surrounding area. The Size classes of the Termite Mound didn’t show any kind of territoriality around them. Vegetation around termite mounds (Odontotermes) didn’t show any type of heterogeneity around the termite mounds. Termite mounds of the small size class show a faster repair rate than the larger termite mounds. The Ant diversity does not dictate the termite mound repair rate.Item Spatial and Temporal Responses of Leopard (Panthera pardus) in the Presence of Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) in Rajaji National Park Uttarakhand(2021) Krishna, Anubhuti; Lyngdoh, SalvadorLeopards co-occur with tigers in several parts of Asia as well as over a major portion of their geographical distribution in India. A clear dominance hierarchy establishes between the two felid species in regions of sympatry with tigers, owing to stark body size differences, holding higher ground. The striped felid, thus, invokes numerical as well as functional responses in their less dominant counterparts. The current study aims at understanding the spatial and temporal patterns of leopards in the presence of tigers. Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand offers an excellent natural setup for understanding such intra-guild interactions as the western part of the Park hosts leopards but is devoid of tigers and the eastern region has sympatric populations of the two felid species. These act as control and experimental setups respectively, and hence this site was chosen for conducting the field sampling. It was found that leopards exhibit some degree of spatial segregation from tigers as was evidenced by differences in the activity hotspots of the two felids in Eastern Rajaji. This is attributable, at least in part, to tigers as a negative relationship was obtained between space use by tigers and leopard occupancy under the occupancy framework. Temporal patterns, on the other hand, revealed a rather interesting trend. The diel activity of leopards in Eastern Rajaji, i.e., in the presence of tigers was very different from that of leopards in the western part of the Park. The activity of the latter was distributed throughout the day with nocturnal peaks of low intensity. The former, however, showed an activity pattern restricted to the nocturnal hours with very little activity during the day. The temporal peaks for this population also showed greater intensity than that of the pattern observed in the western leopard population.These peaks of activity, however, contrary to expectations, coincided with those of tigers in the landscape. Since predator-prey interactions also play an important role in shaping the temporal activity patterns of carnivores, the temporal overlaps between the two felids and their potential prey was also analysed. This too failed to offer an explanation to the rather unexpected leopard diel pattern in ER. It was subsequently observed that though leopards might have similar temporal activity to that of tigers, they are rarely at the same place at the same time. A clear lag was observed between leopard captures at camera traps following photo-captures of tigers at the same location. Hence, a combination of spatial and temporal segregation might be at play at a finer scale than at the population level and requires further examination in order to elucidate the interactions and mechanisms of sympatry between leopards and tigers in this landscapeItem Response of Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) in Varying Density of Tiger (Panthera tigris) in Rajaji National Park, Uttarakhand(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2015) Rathore, Harshvardhan Singh; Pandav, Bivash; Habib, BilalApex predators hold a special position in ecosystems due to their well known top down effects. Intra-guild competition is an integral process that affects population dynamics of large carnivores and may cause trophic cascades. In India tiger and leopard are two large sympatric felids undergoing intra-guild competition. The two co-exist by segregating in their spatial, temporal and dietary niche. Rajaji National Park (RNP) provides an ideal condition to study interaction amongst large predators. Following human settlements relocation in the past decade, the tiger . population has recovered in eastern RNP whereas due to lack of connectivity it has declined in western RNP. Thus, RNP provides a perfect ecological setup to study responses of leopard and prey in varying tiger density gradient. I assessed prey abundance in RNP using line transect based distance sampling using software Distance 6.2. Leopard and tiger density- were also estimated by using camera trap pictures on a capture- mark recapture framework using spatially explicit capture- recapture models. Spatial separation was seen between the two carnivores by using density surface models. Principal prey, prey selection and their dietary overlap was also assessed. High abundance of major prey was seen with the density of chital ranging from 23.61±9.21 Isq.km in eastern RNP to 21.77±4.32/sq.km in western RNP and sambar ranging from 10.61±3.21/sq.km in eastern RNP to 15.65±2.52/sq.km in western RNP. The density estimates of leopard were 29.01± 4.00/100 ~q.km and 25.37 ± 2.63/100 sq.km for the eastern and western sector respectively. The density estimates of tiger were 3.03±0.95/100 sq.km and 0.28±0.23/100 sq.km (only two tiger) for the eastern and western sector respectively. Leopard diet was primarily composed of chital in eastern RNP, in the western sector it was dominated by sambar. Chital was the principal prey species of tiger in RNP. Spatial separation was seen between tiger and leopard in both the sectors of the park with leopards clearly avoiding the high intensity usage areas of tigers. This study has created baseline data for predator and prey in RNP and would be helpful in managing the park better and for future monitoring.Item Resource Tracking by Three Species of Hornbills in Rajaji National Park, Uttarakhand, India(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2009) Warrier, Rekha; Ramesh, K.; Rawat, G.S.Resource tracking is the ability of organisms to adjust to variations in resource availability through numerical or functional responses. Numerical responses may be manifested, by changes in demographic processes or, through changes in movement patterns. Altered space use patterns can result in abundance fluctuations from the local to the landscape levels. An in-depth knowledge, of how resource fluctuations affect patterns of space use and abundance of a species can augment the conservation efforts which are underway for many species. Through this study, responses of three species of hornbills viz, Great Hornbill (Buceros bicornis), Oriental Pied Hornbill (Antharcoceros albirostris) and Indian Grey Hornbill (Ocyceros birostris), to the spatio-temporal variation in fruit abundances were studied in Chilla Range of Rajaj National Park, India. The study was carried out between December 2008 and April 2009, using a grid based occupancy framework and systematic sampling procedure. A total of 28, 1 km grid cells (spatial replicates) were sampled on nine occasions (temporal replicates) for quantifying hornbill responses to fruit abundance patterns. Fluctuations in fruit abundances were assessed by means of phenology transects, which were monitored once every month. Ecological Niche Factor Analysis was done to index the fig fruit availability by modelling fig tree distribution with Eco-geographic variables. Hornbill responses to fruit availability were analysed at two spatial (habitat types and fruit patch level) and temporal scales (winter and summer). Of the three species targeted, data could be consistently obtained only for Oriental pied hornbills. Great hornbills were rarely encountered and Indian grey hornbills were seen commonly only towards the end of the study period. Thus the detailed analysis focused only on Oriental pied hornbills. During the study, non fig fruit availability showed severe variations across areas, and over time. The month of March seemed to be the period of absolute non-fig fruit resource shortage. Figs, especially Ficus rumphii, were the only species that fruited and helped sustain the frugivore community during this period of scarcity. Thus, Ficus rumphii is a potential key stone species for the area. The bias corrected occupancy estimates revealed that Oriental pied hornbills frequented the forest types (Miscellaneous forest) that had high fruit availability in both seasons. At the patch level, intensity of grid use was positively correlated with abundance of non fig fruits in winter (r = 0.5, pItem Nutritional Ecology of Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) in Chilla Range of Rajaji National Park, Uttarakhand(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2009) Datta, Suniti Bhushan; Goyal, S.P.; Sathyakumar, S.Responses of animals to the habitat has been the central focus for management of species and of these aspects, nutritional ecology has been the key issue in foraging behaviour studies and habitat studies. Therefore, the study focused on the nutritional aspect of forage selection by Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in Chilla Range of Rajaji National Park. The main objectives were to determine whether habitat structural heterogeneity or nutritional quality of the selected food plant species was a determinant in the temporal and spatial habitat use by elephants and to determine the reasons behind seasonality in foraging. The study area of 148km2 in Chilla Range of Rajaji National Park was divided into twelve 2x2km grids, and these were further divided into 4 sub-grids each. In each sub-grid, a 1 km long line transect was laid and along this 10m radial plots were placed at 100m intervals. Vegetation data were collected to characterize the habitat structural heterogeneity in terms of number of trees of each species, height of canopy base, canopy volume, percent canopy cover, species diversity, species density and geo-spatial variables such as NDVI, standard deviation of slope, mean elevation and the proximity to water. Parts of 12 most-preferred plant species were collected in the study areas for estimating nitrogen, ash, acid detergent fibre, and macro and micro minerals such as sodium, potassium, calcium, copper, magnesium and zinc. During the study period from December 2008 to May 2009, Elephant response was determined in terms of dung density along the 1km transect in winter and in summer. The total number of trees in each grid varied from 124 to 268. Tree diversity ravged betweel) 0.456-1.454. Height of canopy base was mostly 1.5-3.0 m, although two grids showed extremely high canopy bases. Canopy volume ranged from 165.63m3 to 948.36m3 , although the majority of the grids showed a high variation in canopy volume in terms of standard deviation (SE). The percent canopy cover ranged from 54.13% to 93.72%. Most of the NDVI values were _high in the study area (>0.180), while one grid showed a low value of 0.143. For the standard deviation of slope, the values ranged from a low of 2.46 to a high of 8.46. The mean elevation of the study area ranged froin 391-840m a.s.l. Nutritional values estimated for most of the parameters in winter and summer from selected plant samples collected in the study area showed slight variations 4 between seasons. Percent nitrogen content indicated no seasonal difference (f=0.98, p=0.05, df=ll). The percent acid detergent fibre indicated a difference (P<0.05,df=I I) between the two seasons. Percent ash content was found not significantly different (p=O.l6, p=0.05, df=l1) between seasons. Amongst the macro and micro minerals, sodium content was significantly different across the two seasons. Potassium content was found to be significantly different across the seasons (p<0.05). Calcium content was also found to be significantly different between winter and summer (P<0.05). The copper content could not be compared across the seasons as in summer the levels present in plant samples were too low to be detected by the instrument. The difference in magnesium and zinc content across the two seasons were not significant (p=0.16 and P=0.31). Dung density in the grids across both seasons was non-uniform and highly skewed (p<0.05, df=47). The dung densities in both seasons were related more with the habitat heterogeneity variables than nutritional values obtained in each grid. The relationship between dung density and the number of plants was positive in the winter seasons (R2= 0.2848) and summer (R2= 0.4383), indicating that elephants are highly selective towards areas with higher numbers of woody plants. Plant species diversity indicated no influence on dung density in winter (R2= 0.00005), but showed a negative trend in summer (R2= 0.0154). The height of canopy base was negatively related to dung density, with elephants selecting areas with a mean canopy base height between 1.5-3.0m during both winter (R2=0.2288) and summer (R2=0.174). Dung density showed a negative trend when related to canopy volume in both seasons. The R2 value for winter is 0.2087 and in summer it is 0.1471. Percent canopy cover had a negative influence on the dung densities in winter (R~= 0.083) and in summer (R2= 0.1524). NDVI showed a negative relationship with dung densities in winter (R2=0.01l1) and a positive relationship in summer (R2= 0.1894). The relationship between the standard deviation of slope and dung density showed a negative trend in both winter, (R2=0.0033) as well as in summer (R2=0.0389). The higher elevation grids show a lower d/mg density during both winter (R2=0.216) and summer (R2=O.l443). The relationship between dung density and proximity to water in winter is negative (R2=0.1575) and the relationship remains negative (R2=0.1016) in summer. In relation to nitrogen content and dung density in winter there was a weak positive trend (R2=0.0256), while in summer there was a weak negative trend (R2=0.032). The relationship between dung densities and percent acid detergent fibre (ADF) in winter indicated a weak positive trend (R2=0.0012) and during summer, indicated a weak negative trend (R2=0.0657). In relation to percentage ash content (Fig. 4.29.), dung densities in winter indicated a weak positive trend" (R2=0.0114), while in summer there was a weak negative trend (R2=0.0641). When compared with sodium, dung densities showed a very weak positive trend (R2=0.0092) in winter and a negative trend in summer (R2=0.0834). In winter, when compared with dung densities potassium showed no trend (R2=0.001), but in summer, there was a weak negative trend (R2=0.0076). In winter, calcium does not show any relationship with dung densities (R2=0.0002), while in summer, there is a weak negative trend (R2= 0.0511). Magnesium content does not show any relationship with dung densities (Fig 4.33) in the winter season, (R2=0.0007), while in summer, there is a weak negative trend (R2=0.004). Zinc shows a weak positive trend (R2=0.0298) in winter and a weak negative trend (R2=0.026) in summer. Principal component analysis of nutritional parameters indicated nine components that were influencing dung density distribution in the study area in both the seasons, and hence no single parameter influenced elephant habitat use. The study clearly indicates that the distribution of elephants in Chilla Range of Rajaji National Park is more related to abundance of woody species and proximity of water, than the nutritional content in plant species. Principal component analysis showed that there was no single parameter that influenced dung distribution in the study area. This could be due to the fact that plant species selected for foraging by elephants contained an adequate amount of nutrients in most species for meeting foraging requirements .an d they probably meet their daily requirements by foraging on varied proportions of plant species.Item Food Availability and range use by the common langur (Presbytis entellus) in Rajaji National Park, U.P. India(1991) Tiwari, Geetanjali; Kumar, AjithA bisexual group of Common langur (P. entellus) wan chosen in Rajaji national Park, (U.P. India) to tent my hypothesis that spatial variation in the intensity of use -of home range is correlated with food availability. During the study period T collected data at three levels: (i) 6-day group scan for activity patterns, occupational density and frequency of use of major food species items. (ii) Circular plots, covering 6 percent of the area for estimating availability of tree species. (iii) Phenological data for estimating monthly variation in food items. Using the latter two I calculated the availability of major food species item spatially and temporally. I found that occupational density was significantly correlated with the availability of major food items in only two months. When analyzed for five months correlation increased as more major food items were added. The correlation was not significant for December, February and March because of constraints in the estimation of food availability added to the problem of dumpiness and rarity in the distribution of food species. A linear correlation is however, unlikely because availability of most foliage is often in excess of immediate requirement. moreover, as summer progressed water increasingly became limiting factor. This, in combination with other factors like inter-group interactions might further decrease the possibility of getting a linear correlation.Item Habitat Preference of Sambar (Cervus unicolor) in Rajaji National Park(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 1991) Bhatnagar, Yashveer; Prasad, S.N.A study on the habitat use by sambar in the Rajaji National Park was carried out from November 1990 to April 1991. Data was collected on the vegetation, habitat use and abundance of sambar. Habitat preferences were studied using the utilization availability technique and animal abundances using the King census method. The major results regarding vegetation studies were: 1. Nine vegetation types (VT) were recognized in the study area based on their broad association and physiognomy as: the plains sal forests (SF), plains mixed forest plantation (MFP), mixed forests (MF), mixed forest, riverain (MFR), mixed forests slope (MFS), mixed forest shady valley (MFSV), mixed forest grassy slopes (MFSG), mixed forest slope with sal (MFSS) and sal forest slope (SFS). 2. The dominant tree, shrub and grass species and their abundances for each VT are presented. 3. The hills on the whole had a greater proportion of palatable tree species with branches accessible to sambar. They also had a greater diversity of forage and cover providing shrubs. The major results of the preference analysis were: 1. Sambar shows preference for MFS during both seasons (November to Mid February-winter and Mid February to April-Spring/summer).2. Low to moderate tree and shrub covers are preferred during both seasons. Higher grass cover categories are preferred by sambar during both seasons. 3. Lopped areas show avoidance mainly during summers. The major results of the sambar abundance were: 1. Sambar density for the 10 transects, representing hills and plains and varied levels of disturbance are presented.2. Sambar density during both seasons was higher in the hills.3. The sambar density does not significantly vary between the hill, disturbed and hill relatively undisturbed transects during both the seasons.Item Utilisation of Major Fodder Tree Species with Respect to the Food Habits of Domestic Buffaloes in Rajaji National Park, India(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 1995) Edgaonkar, Advait; Goyal, S.P.The fodder tree utilisation patterns of the domestic buffaloes of the Guijars. a transhumant pastoralist community in Rajaji National Park were studied from November 1994 to April 1995. The study was conducted in three forest .blocks in Dholkhand range with different levels of lopping. Thirty three tree species were used as fodder, of which 11 were important. Milletia extensa, Miliusa velutina. Anogeissus lotifolia, and Grewia elastica were some of them. I calculated a preference index for these II major fodder trees using utilisation and availability data with a confidence interval. Ten out of II species were neither significantly preferred nor avoided in winter, Shoreo robusta being significantly less preferred. In spring. Milletia extensa was 'less preferred out of the five utilised; the others were neither preferred nor avoided. A feeding trial was conducted for seven species in which Stereospermum suaveolens was significantly preferred and Terminalia beleriea was significantly avoided. Neither utilisation nor preference correlated significantly with percentage N. Ca., Ash and Crude Fibre. Lopping of most trees was done regardless of the phenophase as long as the species had foliage. The Guijars faced a seasonal scarcity of fodder in spring. [t is argued that preferences break down in a situation of scarcity and any species edible to the buffaloes is lopped. Even a clearly less preferred species like sal is used. A comparison between occurrences of seedlings of buffalo fodder and nonfodder species between a lopped and a negligibly lopped block showed significant differences. The lopped block had more seedlings. An index of dietary similarity between domestic buffaloes and elephants gave an overlap of 39 percent.Item A Study of Heterospecific Flocking and Nonbreeding Bird Community Structure of Rajaji National Park(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 1991) Rai, Nitin D.; Johnsingh, A.J.T.Many workers have found a direct relationship between bird community structure and vegetation structure. To investigate this and describe the heterospecific flocking behaviour of nonbreeding birds I sampled five habitat types in the Dholkhand range of Rajaji National Park, U.P., India. Inter-habitat differences in flocking and bird community structure were considered. I used the line transect technique to sample bird communities. Mixed species flocks were observed to investigate why birds flock. The guild structure based on diet and foraging strategy showed a marked difference between habitats. Species richness was estimated using rarefaction analysis, a procedure that standardizes the unequal area of the different sites. I used a correlational approach to answer the question – what determines bird species richness ? Foliage height diversity, canopy cover, canopy height, canopy height difference, tree density, tree species numbers and cross sectional area, were used as the vegetation variables. Results indicate that none of the variables have strong predictive value though tree species number which is the only floristic measure of the habitats has a consistent influence independent of sample size. The guild structures suggest that the bird communities vary with floristic aspects, of the habitats. To test my hypothesis that flocking is a response to food availability I related bird densities, which is an indicator of food availability, to flocking tendencies and found a inverse relationship. I also found behavioural evidence to suggest that flocking is also an anti-predatory strategy.