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.

Spatial variation in population-density of snow leopards in a multiple use landscape in Spiti Valley, Trans-Himalaya

Abstract: The endangered snow leopard Panthera uncia occurs in human use landscapes in the mountains of South and Central Asia. Conservationists generally agree that snow leopards must be conserved through a land-sharing approach, rather than land-sparing in the form of strictly protected areas. Effective conservation through land-sharing requires a good understanding of how snow leopards respond to human use of the landscape. Snow leopard density is expected to show spatial variation within a landscape because of variation in the intensity of human use and the quality of habitat. However, snow leopards have been difficult to enumerate and monitor. Variation in the density of snow leopards remains undocumented, and the impact of human use on their populations is poorly understood. We examined spatial variation in snow leopard density in Spiti Valley, an important snow leopard landscape in India, via spatially explicit capture recapture analysis of camera trap data. We camera trapped an area encompassing a minimum convex polygon of 953 km 2 . We estimated an overall density of 0.49 (95% CI: 0.39-0.73) adult snow leopards per 100 km 2 . Using AIC, our best model showed the density of snow leopards to depend on wild prey density, movement about activity centres to depend on altitude, and the expected number of encounters at the activity centre to depend on topography. Models that also used livestock biomass as a density covariate ranked second, but the effect of livestock was weak. Our results highlight the importance of maintaining high density pockets of wild prey populations in multiple use landscapes to enhance snow leopard conservation.

Key informant perceptions on wildlife hunting in India during the COVID-19 lockdown

Abstract: Lockdowns intended to control the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in major socioeconomic upheavals across the world. While there were numerous reports of these lockdowns benefiting wildlife by reducing human movement and habitat disturbance, increased hunting during these lockdowns emerged as a conservation concern, particular in tropical Asia and Africa. We used online interviews with key informants including wildlife researchers, enforcement staff and NGO employees (N=99), and media reports (N=98), to examine the impacts of Indias COVID-19 lockdown (March-May 2020) on wildlife hunting across the country. We asked whether and how hunting patterns changed during the lockdown, and explored socioeconomic and institutional factors underlying these changes. Over half the interviewees spread over 43 administrative districts perceived hunting (mammals, in particular) to have increased during the lockdown relative to a pre-lockdown reference period. Interviewees identified household consumption (53% of respondents) and sport and recreation (34%) as main motivations for hunting during the lockdown, and logistical challenges for enforcement (36%), disruption of food supply (32%), and need for recreational opportunities (32%) as key factors associated with hunting during this period. These insights were corroborated by statements by experts extracted from media articles. Collectively, our findings suggest that the COVID-19 lockdown potentially increased hunting across much of India, and emphasize the role of livelihood and food security in mitigating threats to wildlife during such periods of acute socioeconomic perturbation.

Evaluating a Survey Landscape for Tiger Abundance in the Confluence of the Western and Eastern Ghats

Abstract: Due to the current depleting trends in tiger population, range countries have committed to double tiger numbers by the year 2022. However, some areas, including source sites, across the range countries lack scientifically estimated tiger numbers both at the larger landscape and at the protected area level. Here we report a population of tigers, from Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve (BRTTR), using camera trap based capture-mark recapture in a spatially explicit likelihood and Bayesian analyses that yielded an estimate of ~55 tigers with a density of about 6.8 tigers/100 km 2 . BRTTR nestled in a larger tiger landscape, perhaps contributes dispersing individuals to the adjoining forests, calling for integrated monitoring and management efforts for the entire landscape. This data set could help in designing long-term, landscape level plans and outcomes.

Gestural Communication of Wild Bonnet Macaques in the Bandipur National Park, Southern India

Abstract: Nonhuman primate gestures are believed to be crucial evolutionary precursors of human language. Comparative studies on primate gestures in an evolutionary framework have, however, remained largely restricted to the great apes and the potential flexibility and richness of gestural communication in monkeys, especially in the wild, continue to be virtually unknown. In this paper, we followed several criteria, adapted from ape gesture studies, to identify gestures and evaluate their contexts of usage in the repertoire of wild bonnet macaques Macaca radiata in the Bandipur National Park of southern India. This report is the first of its kind to systematically identify gestures in any wild, non-ape species, thus providing a platform for comparative studies across primate taxa, particularly in our efforts to trace out the phylogenetic origins of language-like markers in the primate lineage, earlier than in the great apes.

Geographic variation in jungle cat (Felis chaus Schreber, 1777) (Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae) body size: is competition responsible?

Abstract: There is a striking difference in body size of jungle cats (Felis chaus) in the west and the east of their distribution, with Israeli cats being 43% heavier than Indian cats. We tested the hypothesis that increasing competition from other small felids towards the east is responsible for the difference in body size. We measured jungle cat skulls for eight cranial and dental variables and related these to independent variables such as species richness (local and regional), latitude, longitude, temperature, and precipitation. Data from a narrow band between latitudes 24.0°N and 33.9°N, where Bergmann's rule was largely not observed, showed that the western population (≤ 50.0°E longitude) of jungle cats is larger than the eastern (> 60.0°E longitude) population with the size difference being most evident in the upper carnassials (P4L). Species richness at the regional level showed a significant negative relation to P4L. An even spacing in condylobasal length for a small-cat guild from India through null model analysis indicated the occurrence of character displacement. The results support the hypothesis that competition is responsible for geographical variation in jungle cat body size in the region where Bergmann's rule does not apply. © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 92, 163–172.