Technical Reports/Books/Manuals
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Item Technical guidelines for habitat and prey restoration in snow leopard landscapes(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2017) Rawat, G.S.; Maheshwari, Aishwarya; Sathyakumar, S.Item An assessment of the current status of the Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus) in India(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2009) Choudhury, B.C.; Sathyakumar, S.; Sylvia, ChristiItem Radio-tracking of western tragopan (Tragopan melanocephalus) in Great Himalayan National Park, India(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2001) Ramesh, K.; Sathyakumar, S.; Rawat, G.S.Attempts were made to radio-tag western tragopan (Tragopan melanocephalus) to study the habitat use and movement pattern in Great Himalayan National Park, India. Fall net and leg-hold noose were used to trap birds. One female tragopan was caught in the leg-hold noose in May 1999, and was radio-tagged using necklace type collar. Both home-in and triangulation methods were adopted to record radio-locations and the home range was estimated using Minimum Convex Polygon method. The habitat use was studied by overlaying radiolocations and home range polygons on the spatial layer on vegetation, digital elevation model, aspect and slope, and also by studying random plots. Though trapping was tried for three months (April - June) with total trap efforts of 256 man-days and 6694 trap hours, trap success was very low for western tragopan (of just one bird). The overall home range of the radio-tagged bird was estimated to be 31.6 ha and for summer and autumn, the home range was 20.5ha and 4.7ha respectively. The bird moved between the elevation ranges 2530m and 2710m in summer and between 2440m and 2530m in autumn, and in both the seasons the bird was using broad leaf dominated forests with moderate level of canopy cover and shrub density. Though conclusive results could not be drawn from a study based on just one individual, the findings appear to largely concur with the earlier studies on the species and its congeners.Item Conservation of red junglefowl Gallus gallus in India : final report(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2012) Sathyakumar, S.; Fernandes, Merwyn; Mukesh; Kaul, R.; Kalsi, R.S.The Red Junglefowl (RJF) is believed to be the wild ancestor of all domestic chicken in the world. there still exist a strong ethno-cultural bond where the wild males are used to invigorate the domestic stock in order to enhance the first generation individuals that are used in the context of cultural and religious relevance. Concerns were raised on the genetic endangerment of RJF due to introgression of domestic genes into the wild population. There needs to address these concerns and maintain uncontaminated RJF population in wild and captivity. keeping this in view, the Wildlife Institute of India, carried out a research project from 2006 to 2011 in two phases that dealt with status, distribution, genetic diversity, interactions between wild RJF and domestic chicken and introgression of domestic genes into the wild and captive stocks. The RJF listed in the “Least Concern” category of IUCN with an extent of occurrence of about 5,100,000 km2. One of the subspecies G g murghi has its distribution within India. In order to address the issues of status and distribution we resorted to using presence-only models. These models overcome the cost and time constraints when dealing with a large ranging species. Species site locations were all collated by using primary field data, network of field biologist, literature records, museum specimens and archived databases. A total of 500 georectified data points were used along with predictable variables such as bioclimatic factors, digital elevation model and forest cover. These variables were used to run maximum entropy models using the product function, the test data has an AUC score of 0.979, the jackknife test for variable importance was annual precipitation and precipitation of the driest quarter that contributed 46% to the model. The total predicted probability suitable area in India is approx 354,978 km2. There are three distinct landscapes within India namely north (12%), central (52%) and northeastern (36%).The central landscape is isolated and does not connect either to the north or northeastern landscape. The north and northeastern landscape is connected to each other through the forest patches in Bhutan and Nepal. PA network accounts for nearly 13% of the area with the National Parks (34) representing 4.32% and the Wildlife Sanctuaries (135) representing 8.52%, while nearly 90% of the area lies outside the purview of the PA network system. The species is still reported from 205 districts out of the 270 districts in range 21 states. Genetic diversity, population differentiation and phylogenetic analysis of RJF populations were assessed in 19 RJF range states of India. In total, 385 samples (306 RJF & 79 domestic chickens) were collected and genotyped with 26 microsatellite markers. Altogether, 628 alleles were observed across five RJF and one domestic chicken population. Observed and effective number of alleles ranged from 9 to 49 and 2.96 to 12.40 with mean (± s.e.) number of alleles 24.15 (± 8.31) and 6.50 (± 2.71), respectively. Effective number of alleles was less than the observed number of alleles for all the loci. The overall observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.23 and 0.79, with mean value of 0.52 ± 0.13, while expected heterozygosity ranged 0.62 to 0.92 with mean value of 0.82 ± 0.08. PIC value ranged from 0.56 to 0.91 with mean value 0.80 (±0.09) and therefore all microsatellite markers were informative in the present study. Mean observed number of alleles & mean observed heterozygosity was highest in Northern RJF population, i.e. Na 21.12 ±7.14 & Ho 0.61 ±0.17 and lowest in central RJF population, i.e. Na 1.92 ±0.89 & Ho 0.35 ±0.42, respectively. Total number of private alleles ranged from 1 to 179 in South-Eastern and Northern RJF population, respectively while no private was found in Central RJF population. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed a total of 6% variation was attributed to among populations while 94% variance was within population. The minimum population differentiation or maximum gene flow was between Northern and Eastern RJF population (Nm 10.846) while maximum population differentiation or minimum gene flow was between Central and Eastern RJF population (Nm 0.911). The overall, Nm values were quite high, suggesting the high gene flow among RJF populations. Nei's genetic distance indicated that the Central Indian RJF population is least similar or most distant (DA= 0.942) with domestic chicken, while the northeastern RJF population is most identical or least genetically distant (DA = 0.255) with domestic chicken. The UPGMA dendrogram was generated based on Nei’s genetic distance. The RJF populations in India formed three clusters: (i) central and southeastern, (ii) northern and eastern, and (iii) northeastern and domestic chicken. The multi-factorial correspondence analysis also revealed the similar pattern of clustering the RJF populations. In order to study interactions, observation were recorded from 13 sites with mixed groups all observations were in the pre-dawn hours. A total of 51 encounters were recorded. The interest was to elucidate whether an interaction between the wild and domestics fowls was mutualistic or agnostic during the breeding and nonbreeding season. From the 10 observation recorded during the breeding season there were no interaction between the wild and feral population suggesting that there might be a spatial segregation between these two populations. While interactions during the nonbreeding season suggest that that males are intolerable to each other when in close proximity, while the females are tolerated and move about freely within the groups. Genetic characterisation and maintaining studbooks is the key step towards formulating management action plan for conservation breeding or release program for any captive species. We collected 220 RJF samples (blood/feathers) from 14 captive centers and investigated population genetic structure and admixture analysis of RJF with domestic chicken using 23 highly polymorphic microsatellite markers. Bayesian clustering analysis revealed three distinct groups that indicated the genetic integrity among the birds of 14 centers. We presumed genetic integrity would have been resulted due to exchange of birds between zoos or the founders would have been introduced from the same wild population. The global performance of STRUCTURE assigning individuals was 169/220=76.81% while 8.63% individuals remained unassigned to any of three clusters. Each RJF stock was independently investigated for admixture analysis with a pooled domestic chicken population and ten birds were found to be hybrids out of 220 birds collected from 14 captive centers. based on the study, we recommend the following As this study could not survey all areas within RJF’s distribution range, we suggest that there is a need to increase efforts to understand whether the species is prevalent within forested tracts outside the PA network, especially Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh where the present distribution is highly fragmented with growing pressures on the existing PA of these States. Similarly, in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Maharashtra, extensive field surveys should be carried out to ascertain the presence/absence and exact distribution limits of RJF as these States encompass the limits or edges of the distribution range of this species. Special focus surveys/studies are required at range overlaps between G.g. murghi and G.g. spadiceus (northeastern States) and also between RJF and Grey Junglefowl (central India). Based on our samples collected from zoos/captive centres (Table 5.1), admixed bird were identified (Table 5.4). These admixed individuals (hybrids between RJF and domestic chicken) that are kept in zoos/captive centres should be removed from these captive stocks to avoid any further hybridisation. They should not be exchanged with any other zoos/captive centres and should not be released back into the wild. The list of individual birds in the zoos/captive centres that have been identified as ‘not admixed’ have been provided to these centres. For RJF individuals in zoos/captive centres that were not sampled during the study or born or added after the sampling, similar genetic analysis should be carried out. Such individuals should not be used /exchanged for any breeding programme. As there are chances of silent breeding between RJF and domestic chicken, hence the use of domestic hens as foster parents should be avoided.Item Assessment of capacity and training needs of key government staff and community members/institutions for a long term effective biodiversity conservation and development of a framework for implementaton in SECURE Himalaya project landscape in selected districts of Himachal Pradesh(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2021) Lyngdoh, Salvador; Sathyakumar, S.; Bhatnagar, Y.V.; Pandev, B.The SECURE Himalaya project pertaining to the high-altitude Trans-Himalayan region for the improved demand management of high range Himalayan landscapes for the conservation of Snow Leopard, other endangered species, their habitats, and sustaining ecosystem services in a novel initiative aimed at achieving conservation goals through a holistic approach. A major component of the project, titled “Assessment of capacity and training needs of key government staff and community members/institutions for long-term effective biodiversityconser vation, and development of a framework for implementation in SECURE Himalaya Project landscapes (Lahaul, Pangi and Kinnaur) of Himachal Pradesh” was undertaken by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII, Dehradun). This component aims to assess the capacities and training needs of key stakeholders and develop a framework and specific training modules for the targeted stakeholders' capacity development. This report conceptualizes the approach of capacity development through training need assessment of identified stakeholders. It outlines the methods adopted based on consultations with various stakeholders, experts, managers and policy makers. Major gaps documented in the landscape with respect to various stakeholders were identified. Modules and capacity development schedules have been suggested to meet the needs for awareness on biodiversity conservation, enhanced training on wildlife monitoring techniques, interventions for reducing human wildlife conflict and strengthening enforcement. We mapped and categorized each stakeholders and their roles in the landscape. A training Need Assessment (TNA) of the target stakeholder through local meetings, workshops and focal as well as instead with the stakeholders documented opportunities for national and state training and research institutions to contribute to the capacity development of the landscape. We prepared detailed and specific training modules for multi-stakeholders through the TNA exercise. Training have been designed to meet the needs concerning their role in long-term biodiversity awareness, conservation, monitoring and enforcement. Hitherto, training modules were categorized into three themes: Biodiversity conservation, Biodiversity monitoring and Sustainable management and livelihood. Pilot training of trainer’s workshop on one of the modules, “Human-wildlife conflict mitigation,” for relevant stakeholders from the forest and different line departments was undertaken to further refine a capacity development framework, timeline and module development. The capacity development framework suggested in this report has been aligned with the indicators and outcomes of the SECURE Himalaya objectives. It is hoped that the exercise undertaken in this assignment will yield significant results with respect to enhancing the capacities of various stakeholders.Item Assessment of medicinal and aromatic plant species on their collection, usage, demand, markets, price trends and life cycle in Lahaul and Pangi landscape, Himachal Pradesh(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2021) Kumar, Amit; Sathyakumar, S.; Goraya, G.S.; Gupta, A.K.; Adhikari, B.S.; Rawat, G.S.Nested in the Western Himalaya, the state of Himachal Pradesh (30° to 33°N and 75° to 79° E) is known for its rich biological diversity. It covers an area of 55,673 km2 with >3,300 distinct plants species. Interestingly, the alpine areas of Lahaul and Spiti are one of the major hot spots of wild MAPs in the Western Himalaya. Unfortunately, the remote valleys such as Lahaul, Pangi, Spiti, Kinnaur including micro-watersheds lying in the cold-arid regions of Himachal Pradesh are relatively less studied in terms of available growing stock and population status of MAPs. Notably, there is a general lack of literature on medicinal plants at the catchment, watershed and valley levels. Further, the information on recent levels of trade of MAPs are available only from a few localities of the Western Himalaya. Like other areas, these areas have also been facing additional stress due to over-exploitation of forest resources, including the unscientific and premature harvesting of MAPs from the wild, which functions parallel to the illegal and hidden markets thus, putting tremendous pressure on the wild resource base resulting in the dwindling populations and precarious livelihoods of local communities. The rising demand of herbal products has caused excessive harvesting of many of the important MAPs from these regions, putting their wild population at the risk of extinction. Keeping aforementioned aspects in view, the current study was proposed which aims to study selected Medicinal and Aromatic Plant (MAP) species in Lahaul and Pangi landscape of Himachal Pradesh with focus to ensure sustainable harvesting and cultivation by (i) identifying usage patterns of MAPs, and (ii) studying existing value chains. In order to address the project objectives, the present study has been categorized into 12 key tasks. The current study revealed that the major issues adversely impacting the MAP species in the Lahaul and Pangi landscape include illegal/ over/ premature/ unorganized harvesting of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs), high demand and non-transparent operations in the markets of MAPs. Besides these issues, few gaps such as knowledge on available stock of MAPs, lack of information on cultivation and harvesting methods of key MAP species specific to Lahaul and Pangi landscape, lack of information on end users and middlemen and inadequate information on quantity of raw material traded have been reported. In order to optimize the benefits to the local communities and adopt the concepts of sustainable harvesting and benefit sharing, it is important to assess the availability, market trends and methods for collection of MAPs including gathering information on population of selected MAPs. This will help in identifying High Conservation Value Areas (HCVAs) and delineating MPCAs for in-situ conservation in the landscape. Assessment of medicinal and aromatic plant species on their collection, usage, demand, markets, price trends and life cycle in Lahaul and Pangi landscape, Himachal Pradesh Additionally, identification of large traders and industries that acquire their raw materials from Lahaul and Pangi will strengthen the implementation of Access and Benefit Sharing model on pilot basis. Furthermore, identification of hidden markets viz., local, regional and national, price trends, value addition and strengthening BMCs will help in sustainable management of MAPs in the landscape. The first step towards conservation is identifying the existing population base, and information on the species distribution and abundance. Identification of the best cultivation practices, R&D to reduce long-gestation periods, cost effective technology, organic-farming, buy-back mechanisms, policy-revision in the interest of stakeholders, protocols for post-cultivation management, quality-control and awareness training are some measures in this direction. It can be concluded that in order to optimize the benefits to the local communities, and to adopt the concepts of sustainable harvesting and benefit-sharing, it is important to assess the availability, market trends and methods for collection of MAPs, including gathering information on population of selected MAPs. A major step towards species conservation can be spreading awareness on the dwindling populations amongst the stakeholders. It is also important to identify alternative sources of income for the locals to create in them confidence that wild harvest of MAPs was not the only source of cash income and, thus to dissuade them from ruthless wild harvest and to make them participate in conservation programs. Identifying and building the capacities of stakeholders including the forest officials, locals, school children, traditional healers and plant traders can help in community based natural resource management. These issues need to be addressed to ensure long-term conservation of the MAP resources of the landscape in a way that livelihood needs of the local communities depending on this resource are not compromised. The following key recommendations have emerged after this study: Documentation of the Conservation Status of Key MAPs i Setting aside Conservation Areas around Viable Populations of Priority MAPs ii Strengthening of Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) iii Value addition by adopting best Post-Harvest Management Techniques iv Developing Farm-scale Agro-Techniques for Priority MAP Species v Developing Germplasm Banks of the Priority MAP Species vi Study and Monitor Impacts of Climate ChangeItem Identifying delineating and mapping areas with high conservation values and developing management recommendatons/plans for SECURE Himalaya landscapes in Himachal Pradesh(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2021) Lyngdoh, Salvador; Sathyakumar, S.; Bhatnagar, Y.V.; Singh, N.; Yadav, S.N.High Conservation Value Areas (HCVAs) is an emerging concept used to identify important areas based on a variety of parameters including biodiversity, landscape context, threatened or endangered ecosystems, provisioning of basic ecosystem services, and dependence of local communities. The assignment aims to Identify High Conservation Value (HCV) categories of areas in the project landscape of Himachal Pradesh, delineate their boundaries and map them, and suggest relevant recommendations with respect to the potential threats prevalent in the areas, specific for each HCV category. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India along with UNDP has implemented a GEF funded project: SECURE Himalaya (Securing livelihoods, conservation, sustainable use and restoration of high range Himalayan ecosystems). The project aims to promote sustainable land management in alpine pastures and forests in Indian Himalayan ecosystems for conservation of snow leopard and other endangered species and their habitats and sustaining ecosystem services. The project SECURE Himalayas would be implemented over a period of six years in the high-altitude trans-Himalayan region, which covers an area of about 184,823 km2 representing 5.62 percent of the total geographic area of the country. The selected landscape for the project is Lahaul-Pangi & Kinnaur Landscape in Himachal Pradesh. The Himalayan ecosystem in India is of critical importance for its immense biological, sociocultural, and hydrological values. The biodiversity and ecosystems that it harbours form an important life-support system for a large number of agro-pastoral communities that depend on it. However, these natural ecosystems are under severe threat from high dependence of local communities on natural resources. The major threats as identified in the landscape are intensive grazing of the pasturelands by domestic livestock, inter-specific competition between wild ungulates and domestic livestock, human-wildlife conflict resulting in crop destruction and depredation of livestock, over-harvesting and illegal extraction of medicinal and aromatic plants by intruders, over-exploitation of natural resources and uncontrolled conventional tourism interfering with the fragile ecosystems and the wildlife of the area. The current assignment identifies and delineate the potential high conservation value areas in the landscape through a knowledge-based approach i.e. data compilation, remote sensing & GIS approach, and ground truthing. The information is presented through the appreciation and understanding of the study sites by short-listing of areas of high conservation value and their management regimes. We reviewed 101 documents (74 peer reviewed and 27 unpublished) pertaining to the subject, and concept of high conservation value forests. Remote sensing and GIS data was used to generate various layers like digital elevation model (DEM), land-use land cover (LULC), drainage network, road network, protected areas network, distribution, occupancy maps of species, forest cover, slope and maps of villages in the landscape in concern. With the help of the secondary data and various GIS layers, potential high conservation value areas were identified and mapped in the remote sensing and GIS environment. Through ‘ground truthing’ of the available data and stakeholder consultations followed by field visits to the potential areas, 28 villages were visited, 13 in Lahaul and 15 in Pangi valley. Village level meetings were organized and data were collected using semi-structured open-ended questionnaire, for validation of potential high conservation value areas (HCVAs). Key informants were identified and interviewed for further validation and verification for HCVAs. A presence survey was conducted in the landscape to understand mammalian species distribution by using a combination of direct and indirect methods. Direct methods were based on visualencounters of animals whereas indirect methods relied on quantification of indirect evidences such as animal feces (pellet groups, scats, droppings), tracks (pug marks, hoof marks, scrapes) and other signs (feeding/ digging). Since all the areas surveyed were located at higher altitudes on steep and uneven terrain, the trails in the forests and alpine regions were surveyed. A total of 79 trails (1 km each), were surveyed, 25 in Lahaul, and 54 in Pangi. A total of 17 areas with high potential for conservation were identified in the entire landscape, 11 in Lahaul valley, namely, Miar valley, Naingar & Neelkanth lake, Billing-Istingri, Darcha-Jispa, Koksar, Kuruched, Hadsar, Chandratal lake, Mrikula Mata temple, Trilokinath temple, Kardang monastery; and 6 areas in Pangi, Sural Bhatori & Sural Gompa, Hudan bhatori, Kadu nallah, Sechu Tuan, Luj and Mindhal. Consequent upon these consultations and ground verification, biodiversity values and associated threats to these biodiversity values have been identified for each of the short-listed area of high conservation value and relevant recommendations prepared. It is proposed that in order to conserve the integrity of each HCVA type the status of the land in concern needs to be ascertained. The key recommendations towards this end include- 1) Demarcation of critical areas within the short-listed areas of high conservation values to serve as important livelihood source for herder communities; 2) Integrated pastureland management regimes to reduce the pressure on the pastures, and provide some time for restoration; 3) Anti-predatory livestock management through fences and other barriers, human-accompanied herding of livestock to reduce livestock losses is recommended; also, the strategies suggested by the SECURE-HWC (human-wildlife conflict) project in Lahaul-Pangi landscape, shall be followed. 4) Enhanced training to the key stakeholders concerning the extraction, harvesting and sustainable use of medicinal and aromatic plants; 5) Enhanced collaboration between the enforcement agencies (like the forest department and security forces) for improved surveillance to identify, monitor and prevent illegal activities. 6) Policy harmonization for potential HCVAs in the form of recognizing such areas as Community Conservation Reserve, Biodiversity Heritage Sites or Medicinal Plant Conservation and Development Areas.