Nature Conservation Foundation

About: Nature Conservation Foundation is a nonprofit organization based out in Mysore, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Biodiversity. The organization has 153 authors who have published 375 publications receiving 10202 citations.

Heard but not seen: Comparing bat assemblages and study methods in a mosaic landscape in the Western Ghats of India.

Abstract: We used capture (mist-netting) and acoustic methods to compare the species richness, abundance, and composition of a bat assemblage in different habitats in the Western Ghats of India. In the tropics, catching bats has been more commonly used as a survey method than acoustic recordings. In our study, acoustic methods based on recording echolocation calls detected greater bat activity and more species than mist-netting. However, some species were detected more frequently or exclusively by capture. Ideally, the two methods should be used together to compensate for the biases in each. Using combined capture and acoustic data, we found that protected forests, forest fragments, and shade coffee plantations hosted similar and diverse species assemblages, although some species were recorded more frequently in protected forests. Tea plantations contained very few species from the overall bat assemblage. In riparian habitats, a strip of forested habitat on the river bank improved the habitat for bats compared to rivers with tea planted up to each bank. Our results show that shade coffee plantations are better bat habitat than tea plantations in biodiversity hotspots. However, if tea is to be the dominant land use, forest fragments and riparian corridors can improve the landscape considerably for bats. We encourage coffee growers to retain traditional plantations with mature native trees, rather than reverting to sun grown coffee or coffee shaded by a few species of timber trees.

Wetland Loss and Waterbird use of Wetlands in Palwal District, Haryana, India: The Role of Agriculture, Urbanization and Conversion to Fish Ponds

Abstract: Wetlands in tropical and sub-tropical landscapes are experiencing changes and loss due to urbanization and intensive human use, but there is sparse detailed understanding of how these affect use by wetland-dependent birds. Urbanization and conversion of community wetlands to private fish ponds are occurring rapidly in Haryana state in north India. We conducted a study in Palwal district, Haryana in 2013–2014 to simultaneously understand (i) rates and reasons for wetland loss between 1970s and 2000s, and (ii) relative importance of location (towns/ villages versus those amid agriculture) versus site-specific variables on the winter abundance of 31 waterbird species in these fish ponds. Wetland extent reduced by 52 %, and average wetland size reduced by 42 % between 1970s and 2000s. Expansion of urban areas converted 105 agricultural wetlands to town wetlands. Wetlands of different locations could not be differentiated using waterbird abundance suggesting that wetland conditions have been homogenized, in part due to conversions to fish ponds and in part due to urban expansions. Focal waterbird abundance was affected more due to human activities relative to location or vegetation. A complex combination of current management practices and historical determinants of wetland persistence appear to be driving waterbird use of wetlands in locations like Palwal.

A dynamic view of seagrass meadows in the wake of successful green turtle conservation

Abstract: Concerted conservation efforts have led to a remarkable recovery of multiple green turtle (Chelonia mydas) populations worldwide. The voracious feeding of these returning populations is radically transforming tropical seagrass habitats in ways that prompt a re-think of the reference state and management plans for seagrass meadows.

Demographic superiority with increased logging in tropical understorey insectivorous birds

Abstract: Summary Selective logging is pervasive in the tropics and is among the most urgent threats to tropical biodiversity. The vast areas of logged tropical forest are often vulnerable to relogging, clear-felling, burning or conversion to plantations, despite evidence that logged forests retain a large proportion of tropical forest species at high abundances compared with alternate land uses. However, the demographic processes (e.g. survival, fecundity) that drive community or species properties (e.g. occurrence, density) in response to logging have never been examined. We used a novel capture–recapture-based sampling design to separate in situ reproduction from immigration-fuelled recruitment to investigate the demographic vital rates of six forest-dependent understorey insectivorous bird species along a logging continuum in the Eastern Himalaya Global Biodiversity Hotspot. We expected a positive relationship between forest intactness and reproductive rates, and that intact patches would contribute ‘excess’ individuals to logged patches from natal dispersal. Contrary to our expectations, we found: (i) a positive relationship between logging intensity and reproduction, and (ii) evidence of natal dispersal from more logged to less logged and intact forest patches. Our results indicate that for certain forest-dependent species in particular contexts, selectively logged habitats can have surprising and hitherto unrecognized demographic value that might be superior even to primary forest. Synthesis and applications. In most tropical settings, logged forests can not only support a greater subset of forest biodiversity than other forms of land use (for instance, agriculture), but can also play an important role in supporting populations of certain forest-dependent species. The ongoing conversion of large swathes of logged forest to non-forest habitat (such as oil palm plantation) because of their perceived lack of importance for biodiversity is a cause for serious concern for the conservation of tropical biodiversity.

Primates in Urban Settings

Abstract: Nonhuman primates have coexisted with humans in urban habitats since historical times. While primate responses to human disturbances are variable and species-specific, certain populations have adapted ecologically, behaviorally, or physiologically and appear to thrive in urban landscapes, depending on the availability, quality, and quantity of resources available. The ecological changes that urban primates face have also led to various behavioral innovations, especially in habitat selection and dietary preferences, which enable these populations to survive and persist in urban environments. Certain biological consequences of urbanization, however, include biological stress, cross-species disease transmission, polyspecific associations and hybridization, and low population genetic variability. While urban human–nonhuman primate relationships are influenced by human cultural and individual attitudes, competition and conflict over resources is currently of great concern. Reactive and preventive management practices need to be introduced in order to reduce human–nonhuman primate conflict and ensure the conservation of the last remaining primate populations in urban spaces.