Biomass loss in village ecosystems in Western Himalaya due to wild monkey interactions: A case study

Conservation faces the challenge of reconciling human activities with the simultaneous presence of wildlife in cultivated landscapes. In a study carried out in two villages of Pauri Garhwal, Western Himalaya, an attempt was made to estimate biomass and associated carbon loss due to removal of agroforestry tree species to reduce human-animal interactions. The results revealed that tree removal caused substantial biomass loss (7.370–2.444 t ha−1) and carbon loss (3.444–15.137 t ha−1) in the village of Manjgaon and Mald Bada, respectively. This indicates a need for protection of existing forests and for tree planting through reforestation and afforestation, as a measure to support food stock for monkeys in their natural habitats and to enhance carbon sequestration capacity. The success of these management practices will depend on the potential to minimise human-animal interactions, especially at the fringes of village communities and agricultural landscapes.JMA was supported by Qatar Petroleum

River birds as potential indicators of local- and catchment-scale influences on Himalayan river ecosystems

Rivers are affected by changes in catchment land-use and other modifications to their channel, floodplains and riparian zones. Such changes can affect biodiversity downstream, and specialist river birds might indicate the effects across multiple scales and through different ecological pathways. The risks of catchment-scale effects on rivers are especially acute in the Himalayan mountains, where the world’s greatest diversity of river birds occupies one of the most rapidly changing riverine environments on Earth. Here, we use multivariate analysis on data collected over two years to investigate the distribution of this group of birds in relation to natural and anthropogenic variations in riverine habitats along one of the major headwaters of the Ganges. River bird distribution was linked to channel character, bank morphology, aspects of river flow and land use. Riverine specialists were associated significantly with the least modified reaches characterised by faster flows, exposed bedrocks, banks with pebbles, boulders with more intact riverine forests. Our data provide evidence from which to develop specialist river birds as cost-effective indicators of human impacts on river ecosystems, but further work is needed to separate the effects of natural and anthropogenic influences. Such work could also guide conservation action to help balance the exploitation of catchment ecosystem services with the protection of river biodiversity

THE BIOLOGICAL VALUES AND CONSERVATION STATUS OF SACRED GROVES IN THE BALASORE WILDLIFE DIVISION, ODISHA: A CASE STUDY

On a global scale, the existing Sacred Groves (SGs) are based on ancestral worship and focus on the conservation of forest patches. Sacred groves are distributed over a wide ecosystem and help in the conservation of rare and endemic species. Well preserved sites are store houses of biological, ecological, medicinal, ethno-cultural and religious values. We documented the state of 13 Sacred Groves in Balasore, Odisha during March 2011. For a detailed investigation, sample areas were set, for the assessment of floral and faunal diversity, ethno-cultural values and management status. A total of 58 floral species and 13 faunal species were recorded. In Balasore, Sacred Groves are small in size and can act as starting points for any long term conservation plan of biodiversity. The communities have kept their faith and traditions linked to these mini nuclei of rich biodiversity in the landscape. Therefore, any conservation program can begin from local communities, by taking them into consideration as trustworthy awareness building factors

New phytogeographically noteworthy plant records from Uttarakhand, western Himalaya, India

We recorded three species of angiosperms viz., Dontostemon glandulosus, Potentilla pamirica and Carex sagaensis for the first time from Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve in Uttarakhand, Western Himalaya. These species had not been reported from the state of Uttarakhand, Western Himalaya till date. Since these species are restricted in distribution and very little is known about them, we provide diagnostic features of these species along with photographs to aid field identification, phytogeographic and ecological notes. </p

Seasonal variations in the time?activity budget of Royle?s pika in the Western Himalaya, India

The time activity budget of a species has ecological relevance because natural selection often favours individuals that utilise their time most efficiently. Details of time?activity budgets can provide information on how animals allocate time to their various activities through the day and during different seasons to most efficiently cope with varying energy demands and environmental changes that may threaten their survival. Efficient use of time?activity budget is also crucial for alpine small mammals, which live in a highly seasonal environment with restricted periods in which to gain energy and successfully reproduce. Hence, variations in the time?activity budget of the high-elevation lagomorph Royle?s pika (Ochotona roylei) were analysed during different seasons over 2 years across an elevational gradient (2900?3680 m). Seven behavioural conditions were recorded in adult and juvenile pikas through daily focal sampling between 0600 and 1900 hrs. Royle?s pika had bimodal activity: animals were most active during the morning and early evening and relatively inactive during midday hours. Adult pikas allocated the largest proportion of their time?activity budget to foraging and the smallest proportion to vocalisation. Greater food availability during the monsoon season encouraged pikas to spend more of their time foraging than on other activities. In the autumn, pikas spent more time on locomotory and musing activities. Vigilance activities were most frequent during midday hours, possibly due to a high risk of predation. Locomotion and foraging were the predominant behaviours of juveniles during the summer and monsoon seasons. Prominent food hoarding activities were not observed in either adult or juvenile pikas. Information on time allocation to different activities during different seasons should provide a baseline for future behavioural ecology and bioenergetic analyses of pikas and help to understand their potential for adaptation to climate change

Ageratina adenophora and Lantana camara in Kailash Sacred Landscape, India: Current distribution and future climatic scenarios through modeling.

The Himalayan region is one of the global biodiversity hotspots. However, its biodiversity and ecosystems are threatened due to abiotic and biotic drivers. One of the major biotic threats to biodiversity in this region is the rapid spread of Invasive Alien Species (IAS). Natural forests and grasslands are increasingly getting infested by IAS affecting regeneration of native species and decline in availability of bio-resources. Assessing the current status of IAS and prediction of their future spread would be vital for evolving specific species management interventions. Keeping this in view, we conducted an in-depth study on two IASs, viz., Ageratina adenophora and Lantana camara in the Indian part of Kailash Sacred Landscape (KSL), Western Himalaya. Intensive field surveys were conducted to collect the presence of A. adenophora (n = 567) and L. camara (n = 120) along an altitudinal gradient between 300 and 3000 m a.s.l. We performed Principal Component Analysis to nullify the multi-colinearity effects of the environmental predictors following MaxEnt species distribution model in the current and future climatic scenarios for both the species. All current and future model precision (i.e., Area Under the Curve; AUC) for both species was higher than 0.81. It is predicted that under the current rate of climate change and higher emission (i.e., RCP 8.5 pathway), A. adenophora will spread 45.3% more than its current distribution and is likely to reach up to 3029 m a.s.l., whereas, L. camara will spread 29.8% more than its current distribution range and likely to reach up to 3018 m a.s.l. Our results will help in future conservation planning and participatory management of forests and grasslands in the Kailash Sacred Landscape-India

Living with a large predator: Assessing the root causes of Human–brown bear conflict and their spatial patterns in Lahaul valley, Himachal Pradesh

Abstract Brown bear‐mediated conflicts have caused immense economic loss to the local people living across the distribution range. In India, limited knowledge is available on the Himalayan brown bear (HBB), making human–brown bear conflict (HBC) mitigation more challenging. In this study, we studied HBC in the Lahaul valley using a semi‐structured questionnaire survey by interviewing 398 respondents from 37 villages. About 64.8% of respondents reported conflict in two major groups—crop damage (30.6%) and livestock depredations (6.2%), while 28% reported both. Conflict incidences were relatively high in summer and frequently occurred in areas closer to the forest (<500 m) and between the elevations range of 2700 m to 3000 m above sea level (asl). The dependency of locals on forest resources (70%) for their livelihood makes them vulnerable to HBC. The “upper lower” class respondents were most impacted among the various socioeconomic classes. Two of the four clusters were identified as HBC hot spots in Lahaul valley using SaTscan analysis. We also obtained high HBC in cluster II with a 14.35 km radius. We found that anthropogenic food provisioning for HBB, livestock grazing in bear habitats, and poor knowledge of animal behavior among the communities were the major causes of HBC. We suggest horticulture crop waste management, controlled and supervised grazing, ecotourism, the constitution of community watch groups, and others to mitigate HBC. We also recommend notifying a few HBB abundant sites in the valley as protected areas for the long‐term viability of the HBB in the landscape