Theses and Dissertations

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Elevation gradient

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    Diversity and structure of butterfly assemblages along altitudinal gradient in Tons valley, Western Himalaya
    (wildlife Institute of India, 2013) Bhardwaj, Manish; Uniyal, V.P.; Singh, Arun Pratap
    Present study reveals the distribution pattern of butterflies along elevation gradient along the Tons river valley in the western Himalaya. Two protected areas lies with current study area viz. Govind National Park and Govind Wildlife sanctuary and the rest of the area lies within any formal category of protection. The area represents high elevational variation (900 – 6316 m) and a gradient of disturbance regimes and from natural Himalayan forests to highly disturbed villages and agricultural lands. Current study document patterns and processes involved in shaping diversity and distribution of butterflies along an elevation gradient in Tons valley. This study provides a baseline faunistic inventory of the diversity of butterflies including description of general identification features, their relation to classification and subfamilies and genera of butterflies sampled from the Tons valley during more than four years of observations from April 2008 to October 2012. A total of 189 species representing 98 genera in 5 families were recorded in Tons valley during entire sampling period.
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    Response of small carnivore community to landscape and climatic variability in the Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area, the Western Himalaya
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2022) Bandyopadhyay, Meghna; Ramesh, K
    This study will add knowledge about the elusive and lesser-known small carnivores in a gradient of disturbed and less disturbed habitats. Objectives The study focusses on the following objectives: 1) Occurrence and abundance estimation of small carnivores across space and time along the elevation gradient. 2) Assessment of community composition of small carnivores and association with other small carnivore species. 3) Evaluation of landscape sensitivity by representative small carnivore species. 4) Distribution modelling of indicator species to anthropogenic and climatic effects in the current context Study focusses on the arrangements of small carnivores along the elevation gradient in terms of site intensity usage and abundance of small carnivores. Marked (leopard cat) and unmarked (red fox) species were considered and statistical models were used to find the overall abundance and also across the elevation gradient in space and time. demonstrates the coexistence patterns of small carnivores (red fox and leopard cat) in three dimensions; space, time and diet. The niche dynamics was assessed and compared between low human disturbance and high human disturbance areas. Study reveals how the coexistence patterns of small carnivores change with differential human disturbances.
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    Functional Trait Variation within and Across Woody Plant Species Along an Elevation Gradient
    (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2021) Nambiar, Ashish; Page, Navendu V.
    Plant phenotypes are defined by a set of traits that have been theorized to be closely linked to the fitness of individuals. These traits have an impact on their ability to grow and compete given the local environment. Variability (intra-specific or inter-specific) in the values of these functional traits is thought to be associated with the ability of an individual to survive in highly variable environments or a wide range of environments. Elevation gradients represent a change in environmental factors within a short spatial scale and hence offers the ideal context to examine functional trait variation. This study seeks to understand the extent of intraspecific trait variation and theorize the drivers of this variation in five woody plant species in response to a change in elevation in a tropical evergreen forest. I focused on three different functional traits i.e Specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), and Stem specific density (SSD) which represent leaf resource acquisition as wells as stem differentiation. When examining the trends of functional trait values for the entire data set irrespective of species identity, it was seen that differences in mean trait values drove the across-species trends. This highlights the role of the environment in selecting for species with specific mean trait values. Contrary to this, intra-specific trait values did not show directional selection in response to elevation, however, the percentage of the total variation associated with the intra-specific scale was significant. This indicates the occurrence of simultaneous counter gradients which may be leading to there being a lack of signal in functional trait values in response to elevation. I failed to establish a correlation between intra-specific trait variation and the elevation range of occurrence. The results highlight the high functional trait variation seen at the intra-specific scale and emphasizes the importance of considering intra-specific trait variation especially at the scales of high environmental heterogeneity.