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Downloaded on 9 June 2020 The Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT) is dedicated to building evidence for conservaton globally by publishing peer-reviewed artcles OPEN ACCESS online every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. All artcles published in JoTT are registered under Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License unless otherwise mentoned. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of artcles in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton. Journal of Threatened Taxa Building evidence for conservaton globally www.threatenedtaxa.org ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Communication Habitat selection of Himalayan Musk Deer Moschus leucogaster (Mammalia: Artiodactyla: Moschidae) with respect to biophysical attributes in Annapurna Conservation Area of Nepal Bijaya Neupane, Nar Bahadur Chhetri & Bijaya Dhami 26 June 2021 | Vol. 13 | No. 7 | Pages: 18703–18712 DOI: 10.11609/jot.6725.13.7.18703-18712 For Focus, Scope, Aims, and Policies, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/aims_scope For Artcle Submission Guidelines, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/submissions For Policies against Scientfc Misconduct, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/policies_various For reprints, contact <[email protected]> The opinions expressed by the authors do not refect the views of the Journal of Threatened Taxa, Wildlife Informaton Liaison Development Society, Zoo Outreach Organizaton, or any of the partners. The journal, the publisher, the host, and the part- Publisher & Host ners are not responsible for the accuracy of the politcal boundaries shown in the maps by the authors. Threatened Taxa Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 June 2021 | 13(7): 18703–18712 ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) OPEN ACCESS htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.6725.13.7.18703-18712 #6725 | Received 18 September 2020 | Final received 06 June 2021 | Finally accepted 09 June 2021 COMMUNICATION Habitat selecton of Himalayan Musk Deer Moschus leucogaster (Mammalia: Artodactyla: Moschidae) with respect to biophysical atributes in Annapurna Conservaton Area of Nepal Bijaya Neupane 1 , Nar Bahadur Chhetri 2 & Bijaya Dhami 3 1,3 Tribhuvan University, Insttute of Forestry, Pokhara Campus, Kaski, 33700, Nepal. 2 Division Forest Ofce, Myagdi, 33200 Nepal. 1 [email protected] (corresponding author), 2 [email protected], 3 [email protected] Abstract: Himalayan or White-bellied Musk Deer Moschus leucogaster, an IUCN indexed endangered species, is distributed in isolated pockets in the Himalaya. The deer populaton is decreasing owing to several pressures that include habitat loss and fragmentaton, and poaching. It is essental to identfy preferred habitat characteristcs to support appropriate management strategies for conserving this endangered species. This study was carried out in the Nysheang basin of Annapurna Conservaton Area of Nepal to identfy habitats preferred by the musk deer. Habitat feld parameters were collected using transect surveys. To analyze vegetaton use and availability, nested quadrate plots size 20 m2 were established. Ivlev’s electvity index (IV) (-1 to +1) was employed to determine habitat preference, and one-way ANOVA (F) and chi-square tests (χ2) were used to examine diferent habitat parameters. Similarly, the importance value index (IVI) of the vegetaton was calculated. Our results showed that the Himalayan Musk Deer strongly preferred habitats at 3601–3800 m alttude (IV= 0.3, F= 4.58, P <0.05), with 21–30º slope (IV= 0.2, F= 4.14, P <0.05), 26–50 % crown cover (IV= 0.25, F= 4.45, P <0.05), 26–50 % ground cover (IV= 0.15, F= 4.13, P <0.05), and mixed forest (IV= 0.29, χ2= 28.82, df= 3, p <0.001). Among the trees, Abies spectabilis (IVI= 74.87, IV= 0.035) and Rhododendron arboretum (IVI= 55.41, IV= 0.02) were the most preferred, while Rhododendron lepidotum, Cassiope fastgiata (IV= 0.35) and Berberis aristata (IV= 0.25) were the most preferred shrubs, and Primula dentculata (IV= 0.87) and Primula rotundifolia (IV= 0.31) were the most preferred herbs. These preferred habitat conditons should be maintained and conserved to sustain a viable populaton of deer in the study area. Further studies will be required to assess the efects of climate change on habitat suitability. Keywords: Climate change, conservaton, habitat suitability, Nysheang Valley, White-bellied Musk Deer. Nepali ;+lIfKt: lxdfnog cyjf XjfO{6 ljN8 s:t'/L d[u Moschus leucogaster, IUCN df ;'lrt nfkf]Gd'v k|hflt, lxdflno If]qsf ljleGg 7fpFx?df cjl:yt 5g\ . oL d[u k|hfltsf] ;+Vofdf sdL x'g'sf] d'Vo sf/0f jf;:yfgsf] If]tL / ljv08gsf ;fy} rf]/L lzsf/L x'g . oL nf]kf]Gd'v k|hfltsf] ;+/If0fsf nflu pko'Qm Joj:yfkgsf] /0flgtLx? to ug{ pgLx?sf] k|fyldstfdf kg]{ jf;:yfgx?sf] ljz]iftfx? klxrfg cfjZostf 5 . of] cWoog g]kfnsf] cGgk"0f{ ;+/If0f If]qsf] lg:ofË EofnLdf s:t''/L d[un] dg k/fpg] jf;:yfgsf] klxrfg ug{ ul/ Psf] lyof] . o; cWoogsf nflu 6«fGh]6 ;e]{If0f k|of]u ul/ pgLx?sf] jf;:yfg If]qsf Kof/fld6/x? ;+sng ul/Psf] lyof] . jg:klt k|hfltx?sf] k|of]u / pknJwtfsf] ljZn]if0f ug{ @) ju{ ld6/ cfsf/sf] g]i6]8 Sjf8/]6 Kn6x? :yfkgf ul/Psf] lyof] . pgLx?sf] jf;:yfgsf] k|fyldstfsf] lgwf{/0f ug{sf nflu Ivelv’s electivity index (IV) (-1 to +1) k|of]u ul/Psf] lyof] eg] ljleGg jf;:yfg Kof/fld6/x?sf] kl/If0f ug{sf nflu jfg jf]o ANOVA (F) / chi-square tests (χ2) 6]:6x? k|of]u ul/Psf] lyof] . To;} ul/ jg:kltx?sf] nflu Importance Value Index (IVI) lgwf{/0f ul/Psf] lyof] . xfd|f] cWoogn] lxdfnog s:t'/L d[un] #^)!–#*)) prfO{ -IV= 0.3, F= 4.58, P <0.05_, @!–#) l8u|L le/fnf]kg -IV= 0.2, F= 4.14, P <0.05_, @^–%) k|ltzt s|fpg se/ -IV= 0.25, F= 4.45, P <0.05_, @^–%) k|ltzt u|fp08 se/ -IV= 0.15, F= 4.13, P <0.05_ / ldl>t jg -IV= 0.29, χ2= 28.82, df= 3, p <0.001_, /x]sf jf;:yfx?nfO{ lgs} dg k/fPsf] b]lvG5 . ?v k|hfltx?df Abies spectabilis (IVI= 74.87, IV= 0.035) / Rhododendron arboretum (IVI= 55.41, IV= 0.02) w]/} dg k/fO{Psf 5g\ eg] emf8L k|hfltx?df Rhododendron lepidotum, Cassiope fastigiata (IV= 0.35) / Berberis aristata (IV= 0.25) w]/} dg k/fO{Psf 5g\ / e'O{F 3fF; k|hfltx?df Primula denticulata (IV= 0.87) / Primula rotundifolia (IV= 0.31) jl9 dg k/fO{Psf 5g\ . o; cWoog If]qsf s:t'/L d[usf] :jo+;dy{tf hg;+VofnfO{ lbuf] agfpg pgLx?sf] k|fyldstfdf k/]sf jf;:yfgx?sf] cj:yfnfO{ sfod /fVg / ;+/If0f ug{ cfjZostf b]lvG5 . ;fy;fy}, pgLx?sf] jf;:yfg pko'Qmfdf hnjfo' kl/jt{gsf k|efjx?sf] cf+sng ug{ yk cWoog cg';Gwfg cfjZos 5 . Editor: L.A.K. Singh, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. Date of publicaton: 26 June 2021 (online & print) Citaton: Neupane, B., N.B. Chhetri & B. Dhami (2021). Habitat selecton of Himalayan Musk Deer Moschus leucogaster (Mammalia: Artodactyla: Moschidae) with respect to biophysical atributes in Annapurna Conservaton Area of Nepal. Journal of Threatened Taxa 13(7): 18703–18712. htps://doi.org/10.11609/ jot.6725.13.7.18703-18712 Copyright: © Neupane et al. 2021. Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of this artcle in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton. Funding: The Ruford Foundaton, UK Funding number is 20257-1. Competng interests: The authors declare no competng interests. For Author details and Author contributons see end of this artcle. Acknowledgements: We are very grateful to The Ruford Foundaton, UK for funding with the Small Research Grant to accomplish this research; Prof. Dr. Santosh Rayamajhi, Tribhuvan, University, Insttute of Forestry, Ofce of Dean, Kathmandu, Nepal and Dr. Paras Bikram Singh, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China for their guidance and support throughout the research; all the feld assistants and local people for their contributons during our feldwork; and the anonymous reviewers and editors for their precious tme, suggestons, and comments on the manuscript. 18703 J TT Habitat selecton of Himalayan Musk Deer in Annapurna Conservaton Area, Nepal Neupane et al. INTRODUCTION Musk Deer under genus Moschus are of taxonomic, biological, and commercial interest; the later primarily arising from the value of the musk produced by adult male deer (Khadka & James 2016). Refned and improved knowledge has enabled the recogniton of seven Moschus species (Li et al. 2016), with three occurring in Nepal (Satyakumar et al. 2015): the Black Musk Deer M. fuscus, Alpine Musk Deer M. chrysogaster of the eastern Himalaya, and the Himalayan or White-bellied Musk Deer M. leucogaster of the central Himalaya. Based on the mtDNA analysis, Singh et al. (2019) validated that the southern parts of the Himalaya of Nepal, India, and © Nar Bahadur Chhetri Pakistan hold the ranges of two species, Himalayan Musk Image 1. Musk Deer captured during feldwork in Annapurna Deer and Kashmir Musk Deer M. cupreus of western Conservaton Area. Himalaya and Hindu Kush. The Natonal Parks and Wildlife Conservaton Act, 2029 (1973), Nepal (GoN 1973) includes the Musk the improvement of asset choice behavior (Boyce & Deer Moschus chrysogaster (Image 1) in Schedule-1 as McDonald 1999; Manly et al. 2007). An asset choice a “Protected Wildlife” species. Earlier, M. chrysogaster may be forever or briefy exhausted by the acton of the was believed to be the only Musk Deer species of Nepal. creature (Green 1986). Moreover, habitat preference is M. fuscus was believed to be extnct, or not recorded the disproportonality among utlizaton and accessibility in Nepal (Bhuju et al.
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