M Sc Dissertation(WII)
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Item Habitat Utilisation of Asian Water Monitor (Varanus salvator) in and Around Bhitarkanika National Park, Odisha(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2025) Rayen, W. Michael Isaac V.; Pandav, Bivash; Das, AbhijitThe water monitor lizard Varanus salvator is the largest of all lizards in India, and its distribution is restricted to certain pockets of the northeast, eastern coast and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Despite being the largest lizard, only limited studies have been done on this species, especially on the movement pattern and home range. This study focuses on the space use pattern of Varanus salvator in the mangrove habitats of Bhitarkanika National Park, Odisha. In total, five individuals were radio-tagged with VHF transmitters in the form of a backpack. All the tagged individuals were located twice in a day, and the location(coordinates), activity and other habitat variables were recorded. The data collected were analysed for their movement pattern, activity range and overlap between individuals and the human-dominated landscape was estimated using KDE. Along with the space use environmental variables (Ambient temperature, Relative humidity, vegetation species, canopy openness, etc) were analysed individually with behaviour to the relation between them using Fisher’s test. The results from this study add more information about its activity range, movement pattern and behavioural aspects in the mangrove landscape of India, which can be useful in the rescue, rehabilitation and management of the species.Item Playing it Safe Tiger Movement and Livestock Depredation Patterns in Panna Tiger Reserve, Central India(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2021) Mohan, Manu K.; Ramesh, K.; Sathyakumar, S.The movement of large carnivores in human-dominated landscapes is not uncommon anymore. While their presence is superficially tolerated or ignored, it is a consistent cause of concern to the people living in its proximity, due to competing interests in sharing of resources and direct threat to human lives. Carnivores incur energetic costs in the form of restricted activity and having to make spatial and temporal activity adjustments. Humans, on the other hand, face losses from livestock depredation and/or loss of lives. Depredation patterns of livestock by carnivores are associated with a variety of factors including habitat structure as well as movement patterns of carnivores in relation to anthropogenic and livestock activity. Hence, deducing movement patterns of the groups in conflict is an important step in understanding the dynamics of conflict patterns at fine scales. Supplemented by models to predict the probability of conflicts spatially which delineates conflict hotspots, site-specific mitigation measures could be devised. To understand such patterns of carnivore movement and relation to livestock depredation events, I conducted this study in a human-dominated region adjacent to the Critical Tiger Habitat of Panna Tiger Reserve in central India from December 2020 to April 2021, within an area of 200 km2. The broad objective was to model the conflict probability based on the proportion of the human-dominated area used by tigers, its intensity of use and spatio-temporal activity within the area, in response to human disturbances. For this, I used intensive camera trap sampling at fine-scale within grids (1 km x 1 km) across the entire study area. Movement parameters of tigers such as displacement and distance to villages in day and night were also analysed by monitoring two GPS-collared tigers in the study area. Occupancy estimates showed 74% of the sampled area being used by tigers, with the relative abundance of a large bodied wild prey (sambar) as the strongest predictor. In addition, a clear positive trend in the relative abundance index of tigers with distance to villages was observed. The temporal activities of the tigers also showed a significant difference in median activity time, shifting towards the night along with moderate diurnal activity at higher distances from villages. The tigers exhibited both crepuscular and nocturnal activity at close distances to villages. The movement range analyses of the tigers using camera traps showed the study area being used by 17 tigers, with 9 of them being adults (>3 years of age). Fixed Kernel Density home-range estimates of the two GPS-collared tigers showed a considerable proportion of their home range areas falling within village boundaries (10%) and an average of 16% of all GPS locations of the tigers fell within 0-100 metres from villages. Despite such high exploratory use of areas within and close distances to villages by sub-adults, there were relatively low incidences of conflict between the tigers and villagers in the study area. Finally, to assess the extent of risk and predict the probability of livestock depredation in the area, Generalized Linear Models were used. The best-fit model indicated a significant negative effect of distance to villages and highway to the probability of livestock depredation. Linear intrusions through highway and forest trails from villages allow easy access to livestock and herders for the utilization of the multi-use buffer areas of the Reserve as well as the tigers to come in proximity to settlements. Corralling of livestock in the night, avoiding free-ranging and grazing of livestock in the identified conflict hotspots, incentivization of alternate source of livelihood by strengthening the institutions such as Eco-Development Committees, along with continuous monitoring of tigers which range close to human settlements are discussed as some of the important measures which can be adopted to decrease the interfaces leading to tiger-human conflict in Panna Tiger Reserve.Item Factors Influencing Movement Pattern Habitat Use and Distribution of King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah)- A Multiscale Approach(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2011) Rao, Chetan S.; Talukdar, G.; Choudhury, B.C.The king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) is the largest species of venomous snake in the world. It is a widely distributed species occurring in India and Southeast Asia. Most of the habitat use studies of ophidians are responses of ambient temperature. These results are often correlated with temperate areas where there is a significant shift in temperature annually. In tropical ecosystems, to understand ecology of a large bodied species like the king cobra would be interesting, knowing the fact that very little work has been done so far. The objective of my study was to procure relationship of ecographic variables on movement pattern, habitat use and distribution of king cobras at an individual and at a population level. This study was carried out in Agumbe, Karnataka in the Western Ghats region of India for 4 months during December 20 I 0 to April 2011 . Habitat utilization points were sampled throughout the study area, which basically was placed within the boundaries of a 2x2 sq.km grid enclosing all the presence locations collected during five years from the ongoing King Cobra Telemetry Project conducted by the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station and the University of Arizona in collaboration with the Karnataka state forest department. Retreat sites (n=262) were selected where the tagged (n=5) had been recorded and sampled for microhabitat variables. Nest sites (n=13) were also looked into, to explore site selection by females. A total of 30 ad libitum sightings of king cobras were recorded during the study. Prey density walk was carried out to derive a relative abundance based on encounter rate in the study area that came to be 1.24 animals/km. A total of 9 species of prey were encountered during prey density walks. The kernel estimates and minimum convex polygon for four radio tagged individuals was calculated for home ranges and area vs. availability was computed for habitat preference and use using Jacob's (1974) Index. The results of this study show a strong correlation of ambient temperature of range 20- 35°C (Beta coefficients 7.7eI0-l ± 0.0545) and relative humidity (70-90%) (Beta 15 coefficients 1.25 ± 1.14) with movement pattern and habitat site selection and also affect distribution patterns of this particular king cobra sub population. It is also found that king cobras do not particularly obligate themselves to a particular habitat type except for some degree of preference towards evergreen forest. The microhabitat however, influencing king cobra movement and habitat use are fallen logs on the forest floor (Beta coefficients 2.327e+00 ± 5.113e-Ol) and dead vegetation on the forest floor (Beta coefficients 2.042e-02 ± 6.796e-03) which have a stronger correlation with presence while ground burrows show a negative correlation. Leaf Litter Depth in the forest floor in sites with range of 4-7 inches deep (Beta coefficients 0.64269 ± 0.30998) influences nest site selection. Using secondary rescue data of five years and all the other presence records for king cobras in the wild, I ran a MaxEnt presence only model (auto model) using only environmental variables taken from BIOCLIM to test environmental parameters influencing distribution. The places of higher precipitation within the study area indicate a higher influence on occurrence and places of higher temperature and aridity regimes does not indicate occurrence of king cobras. The management recommendations for conserving such large bodied snakes would be a multidimensional approach. The local people within the study area do not kill king cobras, due to religious reasons. However, these attitudes are changing and so also some of the tolerant ideologies of the local people. King cobras have been found to occur more in a landscape matrix dominated by evergreen forests and decline in evergreen forest due to land use conversion could be the emerging possible threats to king cobra in the Western Ghats.Item Distribution and movement patterns of the Himalayan Black Bear (Selenarctos thibetanus Cuvier) in Dachigam National Park, Kashmir(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 1989) Saberwal, Vasant; Johnsingh, A.J.T.This study investigates the distribution patterns of the Himalayan Black Bear (Selenarctos thibetanus) in Dachigam Rational Park, Kashmir. It involved basically two components. (i) looking at the differential usage of different parts of the park by bears over a five month study period. and (ii) the spatio-temporal variation in the distribution and availability of fruit during the study. Dachigam National Park of 141 sq. km ranges in altitude from l800m to 4400m. It is divided into Lower (2& sq km) and Upper (115 sq km) Dachigam. Lower Dachigam (LO) is characterized by a broad valley flanked by steep hillsides. Upper Dchigam (UO) is composed of several gullies separated by fairly steep ridges. The valley vegetation is broad leaved, moist deciduous forest with an unusually high abundance pf fruit species. The slopes on either side are dominated by grass (south facing slopes) or a combination of grass, conifers and shrubs (north facing slopes). The vegetation of Upper Dachigam is mainly composed of coniferous species, with alpine meadows in the higher areas. Transects were walked through Lower Dachigam, considered to have over 90% of the Black Bear population of the park. to record animal locations and signs. especially droppings. 100m segments were marked along these transects and sightings and signs plotted accordingly. These segments were the basis of the habitat mapping exercise. A subjective estimate of the abundance of key fruit species was made for each segment. A phenology study looked at the timing of fruiting of key species. Data analysis shows a good, though not significant correlation between sighting frequencies and fruit availability. However there is strong suggestive evidence to indicate that anilla1 movements are largely Controlled by the spatial distribution and phenological status of five to six key fruit species. The lack of significance is probably due to the small data set. The study indicated the lack of defended territories. Instead, as reported from studies on the American Black Bear (Ursus americanus), there are marked seasonal shifts in the use of the home range. Feeding aggregations of up to 20 bears in one hectare are common. Densities of over 1.5 bears per sq km were recorded in Lower Dachigam at times of high fruit abundance. For two months of the year, May and August, black bears disperse out of the park due to very low food availability. Crop raiding (apple, cherry, and maize) is common at this time. The unusually high abundance levels of fruit in Lower Dachigam (due to oak, walnut, and mulberry plantations, over 70 years old) supports a high density of bears at certain times of the year. However, the lack of sufficient fruit at other times of the year is resulting in increasing levels of conflict with the local human population. Problems of oak and walnut regeneration, and the implications of extremely localized oak distribution are discussed. A more detailed study investigating the problem is suggested.