Theses and Dissertations

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    Relocation and Resilience : A Case Study from Sariska Tiger Reserve
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2021) Abhishek; Baroth, Anju; Kolipakam, Vishnupriya; Qureshi, Qamar
    Relocation of villages have implications on socioeconomic status of forest dependent people, however studies have often ignored the well-being of people after relocation. Sariska Tiger Reserve has undertaken relocation as one of its key programmes for biodiversity conservation. In my study I took a field work of analysing the ground realities of relocation in Sariska Tiger Reserve. The objectives of the study suggest: (1) documenting the perception of forest department and communities towards relocation. (2) analysing the resilience of communities in “Relocated” and “To be Relocated” sites. My study includes the use of sociological survey techniques including questionnaire survey, semi-structured interviews, observatory analysis, focused group discussion etc. The study was conducted in two relocated sites (1) Rundh Maujpur (2) Bardod Rundh and future projects villages for relocation Kankwari, Haripura, Lilunda and Kraska. 86 households were surveyed in relocated sites and 96 households were surveyed inside the core zone of Sariska. Results of Resilience have been quantified through abstract and non-abstract measurable. The finding in the study shows that, the influence of local inhabitants on relocation process is very limited. Forest department and local authorities need to retrospect their notion of conservation and rethink their plan for relocation.
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    A study on predation ecology of large carnivores with special reference to human-carnivore conflicts in Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, Central India
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2022) Chatterjee, Anindita B.; Sankar, K.; Qureshi, Qamar; Jhala, Y.V.
    Seven years of data (2008 – 2015) resulted in phot-capture of 96 unique individual tigers in the study area. The estimated survival rate of individual tigers was high. Survival of female tigers were higher than that of the male tigers but the range was overlapping. Apparent survival and transitional probabilities were best explained by gender specific models. Survival constant was selected as the best model for estimating growth rate of tigers. Calculated annual growth rate was 13% with no observed sex bias.
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    Modelling plant invasions in tropical India
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2019) Mungi, Ninad Avinash; Qureshi, Qamar; Jhala, Y.V.
    Human modifications are simplifying global ecosystems, and one agent catalysing this process is biological invasion. Species transferred by human means to areas beyond their evolutionary range, where they impact the native ecosystem and its services, are known as invasive species. Invasive species have affected native ecosystem functioning to an extent where native species went locally extinct, or where the native economy and human health has been adversely affected. While invasive species are spreading at an alarming rate, our knowledge on their large-scale status remains disjunct, disparate, and often outdated. The resultant loss in global ecosystem services is believed to be catastrophic for the global human-welfare; with developing societies being the most vulnerable. One such megadiverse developing country is India
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    Tiger and leopard: Population ecology and resource portioning of sympatric carnivores in Kanha Tiger Reserve. M.P.
    (wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2020) Kumar, Ujjwal; Jhala, Y.V.; Qureshi, Qamar
    Large investment in the form of protected areas, human resettlement, law enforcement-patrols and habitat management are made to conserve tigers and reap their benevolent umbrella role to secure India’s biodiversity. The objectives of present study are (i) the trend of tiger and leopard population (ii) demography of tigers and leopards and mechanism of their co existence. The study area was Kanha tiger reserve (area 2074 km2), a major stronghold for both species in central Indian landscape. Study investigate the estimated vital parameters of tiger demography through robust design based classical open population models in which population was open to demographic process. This study used both camera trap based mark-recapture and continuous monitoring known fate information to estimate reproductive parameters along with age specific survival and dispersal probability of tigers.
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    Population dynamics and resource selection by tigers (Panthera tigris) in Corbett Tiger Reserve.
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2021) Bisht, Shikha; Qureshi, Qamar; Jhala, Y.V.
    Large carnivores are on the brink of extinction across most of their range and this is especially true for tigers, that are symbolic of the wilderness of the Asian forests. This study was carried out to understand the use of camera trap based capture mark recapture (CMR) technique to understand the population dynamics and space use by tigers in this high density tiger population. For this camera trapped technique used in 521 km2 of Corbett National Park (CNP) under open population capture–mark–recapture framework between 2010 and 2015 to estimate annual abundance, spatially explicit density, survival, recruitment, temporary movements, sex ratio and proportion of females breeding
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    Abundance, distribution & pattern of human impact on river Dolphin (Platanista gangetica gangetica).
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2018) Deori, Sunny; Qureshi, Qamar
    This study took place in a tributary of river Brahmaputra named Kulsi which originates from the Meghalaya enters Assam at Umkiam where it is known as Kulsi and finally discharges at Brahmaputra at Nagarbera, Assam. It is a highly populated riverscape. According to 2011 census data, the riverscape has 55972.88 hectares of cultivable land which is solely dependent for irrigation on natural sources (Rainfall and Rivers). Also, the river is divided into 7 River fishery under Revenue department of Assam. About 2500 commercial fishermen are registered under the fisheries of Kulsi River and 1,29,095 cultivators. Apart from this fine quality sand is a boon to the people of Kulsi floodplain. More than 5000 families were dependent on this business. The recent increase in construction business in Guwahati metropolitan and the nearby blooming towns is raising the earning bar of the people of Kulsi River. My study aimed at the following objectives: 1. Estimating the abundance & patterns of dolphin distribution across Kulsi River. 2. Estimating the effects of different human activities which can possibly affect the habitat and distribution pattern of dolphins in Kulsi River (special preferences to existing commercial fisheries, sand mining, & irrigation). 3. Socio- economic status of fishermen community, sand mining community and farmers and their attitudes towards dolphin and wider ecosystem conservation. 4. Examine suitable measures to minimize/prevent the harmfulness of these fishing gears and practices in the commercial fisheries of Kulsi.
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    Resource partitioning among sympatric ungulates in Kanha Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, India.
    (wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2021) Awasthi, Neha; Jhala, Y.V.; Qureshi, Qamar
    This study explores the potential mechanisms of how the community of sympatric ungulates in Kanha might partition resources by evaluating i) habitat-specific seasonal densities and spatial co-occurrence of ungulates; ii) demographic parameters; iii) temporal activity and food habits of ungulates and; iv) factors affecting their group size. The study area was ~ 2074 km2 Kanha Tiger Reserve comprising inviolate Kanha National park (core zone; devoid of human settlements and use) and the multiple-use area (buffer zone; consisting of forest and xviii revenue land, used by rural communities for farming and livestock rearing). The study stresses the importance of human free core areas and the need for conservation investments for achieving high ungulate densities and biomass that are essential to sustain source populations of tigers and other endangered carnivores in this landscape.
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    Spatial abundance of ungulates and role of predation on chital (Axis axis) demography and behaviour in Corbett Tiger Reserve, Uttarakhand, India.
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2022) Banerjee, Sudip; Jhala, Y.V.; Qureshi, Qamar
    To address the first objective which was to estimate the abundance of ungulates in different habitats of CTR, I have used line transect-based distance sampling approach to estimate the density of four major ungulate species (chital, sambar deer, barking deer, and wild pig) of CTR in ~520 sq. km of the Corbett National Park (CNP) region. Density was estimated using 156 spatial transects replicated 1 to 4 times over four sampling years. Both year-wise and pooled (weighted average of four years) density estimates were highest for chital followed by sambar. Barking deer had the lowest density. Chital density has remained stable over the years. Post-stratifying the densities of the four ungulates by three major habitat types of CNP (grassland, saldominated, and mixed deciduous) exhibited the highest density of chital in the grassland and lowest in the sal-dominated forest. Sambar density on the other hand was highest in the mixed deciduous and lowest in the grassland. Barking deer also exhibited a similar trend of habitat-wise density. A significant part of my thesis was focused on the objective of evaluating the precision and cost-effectiveness of three different density estimation techniques. The diverse ungulate assemblage and complex terrain of CNP provided an excellent environment to conduct this experiment.
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    Aspects of Sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) Ecology in Sanjay Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2022) Chaudhuri, Sankarshan; Sathyakumar, S.; Sankar, K.; Qureshi, Qamar
    This study was conducted to identify the aspects of the ecology of sloth bear. I conducted the fieldwork for this study for three years (2017-2019). The broad objectives of this study were: 1. To estimate the occupancy and abundance of sloth bears and identify environmental and anthropogenic factors which influence the same 2. To assess the space use patterns by sloth bears in terms of habitat use and den selection 3. To investigate the seasonal diet patterns of sloth bears 4. To assess the human-sloth bear conflict based on spatio-temporal interaction.
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    Evaluating methods to monitor tiger abundance and its prey in Indian Sunderbans
    (wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2019) Roy, Manjari; Sankar, K.; Qureshi, Qamar
    This study conducted to test and evaluate different methods for estimating tiger and its prey population in Sundarban that can be adopted as part of a monitoring programme. For this study techniques were applied for the standard spatially explicit capture-recapture, tailored according to the local conditions to estimate tiger density in Sundarban for three years. Tiger densities were estimated at 4.08 (SE 1.51) in 2010, 5.81 (SE 1.24) in 2012 and 3.15 (SE 0.88) tigers/100 km2 in 2014. The tiger abundance for my camera trapped study area generated through conventional mark-recapture was 11 (SE 2), 24 (SE 3) and 16 (SE 3) tigers for 2010, 2012, 2014 respectively. Ungulates occupy a primary position in the diet of tigers and a monitoring protocol for tiger should inherently include a component of prey base estimation. Boat transect based distance sampling to generate density estimates for four years.