An ecological study on the pheasants of Great Himalayan National Park, Western Himalaya.

Abstract

The primary focus of the study was to describe the ecological and spatial distribution of three sympatric pheasant species, namely, Himalayan monal (Lophophorus impejanus), koklass (Pucrasia macrolopha) and western tragopan (Tragopan melanocephalus) in the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP; 31 0 33' - 31 0 57' N and 770 17' - 770 52' E) in Himachal Pradesh, India. The specific were to: (i) review and test the currently available count techniques and provide estimates of relative abundance; (ii) document group size characteristics; (iii) describe habitat preference and investigate species coexistence; and (iv) develop a spatial model to predict availability of the potential habitats and the probability of occurrence of the study species. The study design included three broad approaches, namely, 1) field sampling, to estimate relative abundance and other behavioral and ecological parameters, 2) associative approach, to establish a relationship between the ecological distribution of the study species and habitat characteristics, and 3) Geographical Information System (GIS) based predictive spatial modelling. An area of 16 km2 was selected within GHNP, based on reconnaissance survey and literature, to serve as an intensive study area