M Sc Dissertation(WII)

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Mosaic landscape

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    Montane Lizard in a Mosaic Landscape: Effect of Tea Plantations on Anamalai Spiny Lizard (Sales anamallayana)
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2021) Devrajan, Anjitha; Ramesh, C.; Das, Abhijit
    The Anamalai Spiny Lizard (Salea anamallayana), an agamid lizard endemic to southern Western Ghats is reported to use shola and tea plantations of Kannan Devan hills of high ranges of Kerala. The Western Ghats has experienced extensive habitat destruction and modification since a very long time and the lizards are highly affected by habitat modification which in turn affect their fitness and survival. In this study we investigated the effect of habitat modification on morphology, population and habitat association in Salea anamallayana in the shola forests of Eravikulam National Park and surrounding tea plantations. The study was conducted from February 2021 to May 2021. Line transect method was used to study density and Visual encounter surveys for collecting data for basking habitat use and morphology. Surveys were conducted from 9 am to 2 pm since the lizard was more active during the time period. Shola and plantation are structurally very different. Shola was divided into shola close to plantations and shola away from plantation. Plantation was classified according to the proximity to shola and presence of shade trees. The density was found to be more in shola (27.59±6.79/ha) compared to plantation (8.63 ±2.21/ha). In plantations, the density was influenced by proximity to shola and presence of shade trees. Density is more in plantations in close proximity to shola (20.91±4.51/ha) compared to plantations away from shola (2.85±1.37/ha) and the lizard was present only where the shade trees were planted. The sex ratio was biased towards male in plantations (100:14) and it improves in shola close to plantations (100:33) and further improves in shola away from plantations (100:50). The body condition of male lizards was poor in plantations compared to shola away from plantations (t = 2.57, df = 14.17, p-value = 0.021). The males do not differ in other morphological variables across the habitats. Body condition of males is better than females (t = -2.19, df = 23.80, p-value = 0.037). The basking habitat use is in proportion to habitat availability. The microhabitat use varies across shola and plantation. Average perch height and perch diameter is more in plantation and average canopy cover is more in shola. More diverse perch surface is available and used in shola compared to plantation. The average body temperature is high in plantation compared to shola and the body temperature is directly proportional to atmospheric temperature and substrate temperature. There is no significant difference in Flight Initiation Distance (FID) between shola and plantation. FID is inversely correlated to substrate temperature.
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    Patterns and Determinants of Elephant Habitat Use in a Mosaic Landscape in Northern Chhattisgarh
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2019) Meshram, Kushagra; Pandav, Bivash; Nigam, Parag
    Habitat use is affected by a wide range of factors,like the amount of resources available, its distribution in space, quality of resource,presence and absence of limiting factors like roads and settlements. Increasing anthropogenic pressure has lead to the degradation of the habitat available to animals in the form fragmentation of forests, introduction of invasive species and reduction in the quality of the available forage. This in turns alters the composition and modify the natural systems. This modification of habitat may compel animals to alter the way they use it by adopting new strategies. On these lines, I did my study on assessing the factors that influence habitat use of elephants in a mosaic landscape in Northern Chhattisgarh. The study was carried out in Surguja district of Chhattisgarh. This district is famous has been infamous for elephant conflict since 1900s. The problem has exacerbated due to rapid urbanisation, increasing population and alteration in land use. Today, it is one of the most human-elephant conflict affected area in country. This is a repercussion of wanton modification of natural habitat. How elephants are interacting with this modified habitat which is a matrix of remnant forest patches, agricultural areas and settlements is the crux of my study. In order to to study this, I selected a study area of 1200 square kilometres. As a part of the study I also followed two satellite Collared individuals(one living with a herd and the other, a solitary male) to understand spatiotemporal habitat use and ranging behaviour of elephants. I also collaborated with Indian Space and Research Organisation for my study. High resolution land-use maps were provided by ISRO for this study. The field work was carried out from 21st December 2018 to 15th April 2019. GIS based work was done in the GIS lab of the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.