STUDY OF POPULATION, ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION OF LION-TAILED MACAQUE MACACA SILENUS IN SIRSI-HONNAVARA, WESTERN GHATS, KARNATAKA

Abstract

Tropical forests cover only 10% of earth’s area but inhabit ~50% of known species and higher number of unidentified species of the globe (Dirzo and Raven 2003). These forests face severe challenge in the recent decades due to everlasting pressure from human activities (Whitmore and Burslem 1998). About 60% of tropical forests were classified as degraded by the year 2000 (ITTO 2002). Degradation of tropical forests are mainly due to land use changes escalated by agricultural expansion, commercial logging and plantations, mining, industrial development and urbanization (Geist and Lambin 2002). Thus, these land use changes are responsible for biodiversity loss (Sala et al 2000). Tropical forests have historically been exploited for sufficing to the needs of development (Gibson et al 2011). This has resulted in elimination of native flora and altering the stand characteristics of the forests (Gadgil and Chandran 1989). These changes have also altered the microclimate (Johns 1985), and thus responsible for colonization of invasive plant species (Malcolm et al 2000). They have rapidly affected the dependent fauna of the area, of especially vertebrates which are highly endemic and habitat specific