Raghunandan S. Chundawat

Bio: Raghunandan S. Chundawat is an academic researcher from Wildlife Institute of India. The author has contributed to research in topics: Population & Capra ibex. The author has an hindex of 6, co-authored 6 publications receiving 370 citations.

Science deficiency in conservation practice: the monitoring of tiger populations in India

Abstract: Conservation practices are supposed to get refined by advancing scientific knowledge. We study this phenomenon in the context of monitoring tiger populations in India, by evaluating the ‘pugmark census method’ employed by wildlife managers for three decades. We use an analytical framework of modern animal population sampling to test the efficacy of the pugmark censuses using scientific data on tigers and our field observations. We identify three critical goals for monitoring tiger populations, in order of increasing sophistication: (1) distribution mapping, (2) tracking relative abundance, (3) estimation of absolute abundance. We demonstrate that the present census-based paradigm does not work because it ignores the first two simpler goals, and targets, but fails to achieve, the most difficult third goal. We point out the utility and ready availability of alternative monitoring paradigms that deal with the central problems of spatial sampling and observability. We propose an alternative sampling-based approach that can be tailored to meet practical needs of tiger monitoring at different levels of refinement.

Activity Patterns and Habitat Use of Ibex in the Himalaya Mountains of India

Abstract: Studies of Asiatic ibexes ( Capra ibex sibirica ) were conducted in the Himalaya Mountains of India during winter and summer 1985–1986, with activity data collected during November–December. Ibexes were observed in Ladakh at elevations of 4,000–4,800 m, on slopes averaging 31°, and predominantly within 50 m of rugged terrain or cliffs. Groups (median size = 11; range, 1–40) primarily were comprised of both sexes during summer and winter, although more males were in all-male groups during summer. Ibexes fed farther from cliffs than they bedded, and fed in larger groups the farther from cliffs; differences probably associated with avoidance of predation. During early winter, peaks in daily activity occurred near sunrise and sunset. Population and habitat-use characteristics of ibex appear to be related to site-specific predation pressure, winter snowpack, forage availability, and human activities.

The need for evidence-based conservation

Abstract: Much of current conservation practice is based upon anecdote and myth rather than upon the systematic appraisal of the evidence, including experience of others who have tackled the same problem. We suggest that this is a major problem for conservationists and requires a rethinking of the manner in which conservation operates. There is an urgent need for mechanisms that review available information and make recommendations to practitioners. We suggest a format for web-based databases that could provide the required information in accessible form.

Estimating animal density using camera traps without the need for individual recognition

Abstract: Summary 1Density estimation is of fundamental importance in wildlife management. The use of camera traps to estimate animal density has so far been restricted to capture–recapture analysis of species with individually identifiable markings. This study developed a method that eliminates the requirement for individual recognition of animals by modelling the underlying process of contact between animals and cameras. 2The model provides a factor that linearly scales trapping rate with density, depending on two key biological variables (average animal group size and day range) and two characteristics of the camera sensor (distance and angle within which it detects animals). 3We tested the approach in an enclosed animal park with known abundances of four species, obtaining accurate estimates in three out of four cases. Inaccuracy in the fourth species was because of biased placement of cameras with respect to the distribution of this species. 4Synthesis and applications. Subject to unbiased camera placement and accurate measurement of model parameters, this method opens the possibility of reduced labour costs for estimating wildlife density and may make estimation possible where it has not been previously. We provide guidelines on the trapping effort required to obtain reasonably precise estimates.

Camera trapping photographic rate as an index of density in forest ungulates

Abstract: Summary 1. Calibrating indices of animal abundance to true densities is critical in wildlife studies especially when direct density estimations are precluded by high costs, lack of required data or model parameters, elusiveness and rarity of target species. For studies deploying camera traps, the use of photographic rate (photographs per sampling time) as an index of abundance potentially applies to the majority of terrestrial mammals where individual recognition, and hence capture–recapture analysis, are unfeasible. The very few studies addressing this method have either been limited by lack of independence between trapping rates and density estimations, or because they combined different species, thus introducing potential bias in camera trap detection rates. This study uses a single model species from several sites to analyse calibration of trapping rates to independently derived estimations of density. The study also makes the first field test of the method by Rowcliffe et al. (2008) for density derivation from camera trapping rates based on modelling animal-camera contacts. 2. We deployed camera traps along line transects at six sites in the Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania and correlated trapping rates of Harvey’s duiker Cephalophus harveyi with densities estimated from counts made along the same transects. 3. We found a strong, linear relationship (R 2 =0 AE90) between trapping rate and density. Sampling precision analysis indicates that camera trapping rates reach satisfactory precision when trapping effort amounts to 250–300 camera days. Density estimates using Rowcliffe et al.’s (2008) gas model conversion are higher than from transect censuses; we discuss the possible reasons and stress the need for more field tests. 4. Synthesis and applications. Subject to rigorous and periodic calibration, and standardization of sampling procedures in time and over different sites, camera trapping rate is shown to be, in this study, a valid index of density in the target species. Comparative data indicate that this may also apply to forest ungulates in general. The method has great potential for standardizing monitoring programmes and reducing the costs of wildlife surveys, especially in remote areas.

Living with large carnivores: predation on livestock by the snow leopard (Uncia uncia)

Abstract: Livestock predation by large carnivores and their retaliatory persecution by pastoralists are worldwide conservation concerns. Poor understanding of the ecological and social underpinnings of this human?wildlife conflict hampers effective conflict management programs. The endangered snow leopard Uncia uncia is involved in conflict with people across its mountainous range in South and Central Asia, where pastoralism is the predominant land use, and is widely persecuted in retaliation. We examined human-snow leopard conflict at two sites in the Spiti region of the Indian Trans-Himalaya, where livestock outnumber wild ungulates, and the conflict is acute. We quantified the snow leopard's dependence on livestock by assessing its diet in two sites that differed in the relative abundance of livestock and wild ungulates. We also surveyed the indigenous Buddhist community's attitudes towards the snow leopard in these two sites. Our results show a relatively high dependence of snow leopards on livestock. A higher proportion of the snow leopard's diet (58%) was livestock in the area with higher livestock (29.7 animals km?2) and lower wild ungulate abundance (2.1?3.1 bharal Pseudois nayaur km?2), compared with 40% of diet in the area with relatively lower livestock (13.9 km?2) and higher wild ungulate abundance (4.5?7.8 ibex Capra ibex km?2). We found that the community experiencing greater levels of livestock losses was comparatively more tolerant towards the snow leopard. This discrepancy is explained by the presence of a conservation-incentive program at the site, and by differences in economic roles of livestock between these two communities. The former is more dependent on cash crops as a source of income while the latter is more dependent on livestock, and thereby less tolerant of the snow leopard. These data have implications for conflict management strategies. They indicate that the relative densities of livestock and wild prey may be reasonable predictors of the extent of predation by the snow leopard. However, this by itself is not an adequate measure of the intensity of conflict even in apparently similar cultural settings.