Theses and Dissertations

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Author: search.filters.author.Kumara, H NSubject: search.filters.subject.Elephas maximus

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    Ecology of elephants (Elephas maximus) and their interactions with humans in south West Bengal, India
    (SACON, 2023) Singh, Akriti; Kumara, H N
    The thesis delves into the intricate dynamics surrounding the range expansion of Asian elephants in South West Bengal, catalyzing heightened human-elephant conflicts. It meticulously outlines the evolution of this phenomenon, starting from the elephants' modest presence in the 1950s to their expansive spread across 13200 km² by 2010–18. Through structured surveys and field observations, the elephants' footprint has been delineated across 163 grid cells in the region, showcasing their adaptability to varied habitat conditions. Central to understanding this expansion is the interplay between habitat factors and elephant presence. The thesis elucidates how the elephants' utilization of grid cells correlates positively with the forest edge, forest area, agricultural area, and barren land. As forests recede and agricultural land expands, elephants find themselves increasingly encroaching upon human settlements, leading to heightened conflict situations. Population estimation methodologies, ranging from dung count surveys to distance sampling, shed light on the elephant demographic in the region. However, the thesis highlights the challenges inherent in accurately gauging elephant numbers, particularly in areas where human activities disrupt their natural movement patterns. Despite these hurdles, the presence of a substantial number of immature elephants signifies a thriving population, albeit one grappling with human-induced disturbances. The thesis also sheds light to the ecological intricacies of elephant habitat use and feeding behavior. By overlaying grid cells on selected elephant habitats and analyzing geo-coordinates, the intensity of elephant habitat utilization was ascertained. The elephants' dietary preferences, encompassing a diverse array of wild plant species alongside agricultural crops, underscore their adaptive prowess in navigating human-altered landscapes. However, this dietary reliance on crops exacerbates conflicts, as elephants frequently venture into agricultural fields, triggering retaliatory measures from local communities.
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    Dry season forage selection by Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) in a fragmented landscape, northern West Bengal
    (SACON, 2020) Das, Priyanka; Kumara, H N; Kshettry, Aritra
    The Asian elephant is a wide-ranging species with just 51% of its range across Asia covered by forest land. Hence, it is imperative to plan conservation action in the other half comprising of multiuse landscapes. With food being an important resource determining elephant use and movement, understanding their forage selection in a heterogeneous landscape can help us prioritise allocation of limited conservation resources. I studied forage selection by Asian elephants during December 2019 to June 2020 in a tea-estate-agriculture-forest mosaic in northern West Bengal, a landscape which typifies land-use mosaics used by elephants across India. Asian elephants in the landscape consumed 132 plant species, of which 21 species constituted 85.3% of the total feeding signs recorded, while non-reproductive plant parts dominated the diet. The mean (±SE) feeding frequency was found to be highest in villages [50.15 (±22.85)] followed by forests [40.51 (±9.42)], semi-open forests [12.14 (±9.42)], tea estates [5.79 (±1.95)] and open forests [3.31(±1.44)]. However, the high variance in village indicates that elephants use villages for movement and forages occasionally. Food grain from household was consumed rarely (0.25%). Overall, they used dicots (52.73%) more than monocots (47.27%) and browse (65.23%) more than herb (34.77%). Elephants consumed more monocots in forests and tea estates whereas in semi-open forests, open forests and villages they consumed more dicots. The availability of monocots was lesser than dicots in all these land use and land cover types. In forest, they consumed more herbs, whereas browse was consumed more in all other land use and land cover types.