Theses and Dissertations

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Author: search.filters.author.Lyngdoh, SalvadorSubject: search.filters.subject.Carnivores

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    Habitat use and interactions of mammalian carnivores in the tropical forest of Manas National Park, Assam, India
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2023) Bhatt, Urjit; Adhikari, B.S.; Lyngdoh, Salvador
    The study was conducted at the Manas National Park (MNP), East Himalayan Biodiversity Hotspot, in Assam. Previous research on MNP revealed their significance in supporting diverse wildlife, including mammalian carnivores, focusing on their distribution patterns, relative abundance indices, and population estimates. However, interactions, co-existence, and habitat use among carnivores in the park remain understudied, creating concerns for conservation efforts given the threats to biodiversity in Southeast Asia. Examining these aspects of MNP, with their varied ecological niches and body mass variations, can shed light on species interactions and habitat preferences. understanding these complex relationships and habitat use is essential for effective conservation and management strategies to ensure the long-term survival and ecological balance of carnivore communities. The thesis used camera traps to assess the richness, species composition, encounter rates, trap efforts, and threat status of mammalian carnivores in the MNP. The objectives of the study were to (a) assess diversity and species composition of mammalian carnivores, (b) determine temporal interactions among carnivores and their potential prey species, and (c) evaluate space and habitat use of mammalian carnivores in tropical forest of MNP.
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    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, Salvador
    Leopards 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 landscape