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Biodiversity and Ecology of the Herpetofauna of Cholistan Desert, Pakistan

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Biodiversity and Ecology of the Herpetofauna of Cholistan Desert, Pakistan Russian Journal of Herpetology Vol. 15, No. 3, 2008, pp. 193 – 205 BIODIVERSITY AND ECOLOGY OF THE HERPETOFAUNA OF CHOLISTAN DESERT, PAKISTAN Khalid Javed Baig,1 Rafaqat Masroor,1 and Mohammad Arshad2 Submitted December 28, 2006. Present studies are aimed to document the herpetofauna of Cholistan Desert and study its ecology. During the last three years from 2001 to 2003, attempts have been made to collect and observe the amphibians and reptiles in different parts of Cholistan Desert. More than four thousand specimens belonging to 44 species have so far been collected/observed from the study area. Among different collecting techniques adopted for these studies, “Pit-fall” traps and “Hand Picking” showed best results. The voucher specimens have been catalogued and are presently lying with Pakistan Museum of Natural History, Islamabad. Keywords: Amphibians, Reptiles, ecology, Cholistan Desert, Pakistan. INTRODUCTION either saline or saline-sodic, with pH ranging from 8.2 to 8.4 and from 8.8 to 9.6, respectively. The Greater Choli- Lying on the eastern side of the Indus River and stan is a wind resorted sandy desert and comprised of southern and southeastern side of Sutlej River, Cholistan river terraces, large sand dunes, ridges and depressions Desert is the northwestern limit of Thar Desert or Great (Baig et al., 1980; Khan, 1987; Arshad and Rao, 1994). Indian Desert. This is a plain of gently undulating sand The dunes reach an average height of about 100 m (Ar- hills. Elevations are generally below 150 m. Archeologi- shad and Rao, 1994; Akbar et al., 1996). cal evidence shows that the region was better watered as Most of the herpetological studies carried out in Pa- recently, through the flow of historic Hakra River. The kistan are either old or mainly restricted to the Sind and dry watercourse is still represented in Cholistan Desert Balochistan provinces of Pakistan (Murray, 1884, 1886; (Map 1). Boulenger, 1920; Smith, 1933, 1935, 1943; Minton, Cholistan Desert comprised of 2.6 million ha (FAO, 1966; Mertens, 1969). The other subsequent and rela- 1993; Akbar et al., 1996). Cholistan desert has a length tively recent studies (Dubois and Khan, 1979; Khan, of about 480 km while the width varies from 32 to 1985, 1991, 1993a, 1993b; Khan and Baig, 1988, 1992; 192 km (Khan, 1987; Chaudhry, 1992). Based on the to- Baig, 1988a, 1988b, 1988c, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1996, pography, parent material, soil and vegetation, the whole 1997, 1998a, 1998b, 2004; Khan and Tasnim, 1990; Cholistan desert is divided into two geomorphic regions. Baig and Böhme, 1991, 1996) have been made to unveil The northern region or “Lesser Cholistan” borders the herpetological wealth of Pakistan. Except Khan canal irrigated areas and covers about 7770 km2 and the (1985), unfortunately all others are related to the parts of southern region or Greater Cholistan is comprised at Pakistan, other than Cholistan. Khan (1985) docu- 18,130 km2 (Baig et al., 1980; Khan, 1987; Ahmed et mented 15 species from the area. Present attempt is be- al., 1992; Arshad and Rao, 1994). The lesser Cholistan ing made to explore the Cholistan Desert, a distinct and consists of saline alluvial flats (locally called dahars) extremely important area of Pakistan. alternating with low sandy ridges. The clayey flats of lesser Cholistan are generally homogenous to a depth ranging from 30 to 90 cm. These soils are classified as MATERIAL AND METHODS 1 Pakistan Museum of Natural History, Garden Avenue, Shakerpari- an, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan; E-mail: [email protected], Extensive surveys of the study area have been made [email protected] to observe and collect the amphibians and reptiles. Dif- 2 Cholistan Institute of Desert Studies, Baghdad-I-Jadeed Campus, ferent collecting techniques were practiced for the pro- Islamia University Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan. curement of voucher specimens from the area. To 1026-2296/2008/1503-0193 © 2008 Folium Publishing Company 194 Khalid Javed Baig et al. Map 1. Cholistan Desert. achieve this goal several field station were set up in dif- Drag-nets/cast-nets. Aquatic species like turtles ferent parts of Cholistan Desert, mostly village schools. and frogs were collected with the help of these nets. The day to day activities of the stations were monitored The species collected or sighted were photographed usually by the headmaster or science teacher of the and necessary field data recorded. The voucher speci- school. The station also acted as specimen bank where mens collected were subsequently transported to PMNH students and rural folk deposited the specimens if laboratory to ascertain their taxonomic status and finally they got any. Necessary data pertaining to specimen catalogued. were also recorded for documentation and subsequent Preparation of inventory. The observed and col- analysis. lected specimens were either identified in the field / Hand picking. It has always been the most efficient and or were brought in the laboratory for confirmation way of collecting small species of reptiles, especially, and future reference. when the area to be traversed is large and time available Data analysis. Observations regarding the presence in the field is short. Snake clutches were used for han- of different species were made during the survey of the / dling snakes, especially poisonous ones, and even for entire project area and its buffer zone. The latitude lon- gitude, elevation and habitat of the localities that were the lizards if they took refuge in the thorny bushes. extensively surveyed were observed. The species col- Noose traps. These traps were tried for agamids but lected or observed were recorded with reference to that unfortunately did not show any success. locality. The detailed analyses indicating the evenness, Pit-falls. At few places “Pit–falls” were also fixed richness and other criteria were carried out to understand and monitored. These have also been proven as an effec- the density and distribution pattern of Amphibians and tive method of collecting reptiles ranging from small Reptiles in the ecological zones of the study area. lacertids to large snakes. The success of the “Pit-falls” is To determine “Most Productive Habitat” Shannon directly related to the overall activity of reptiles in the Indices, Evenness and Richness of the communities area. present in the respective habitat have been calculated. Herpetofauna of Cholistan Desert, Pakistan 195 Fig. 1. Agriculture field in Cholistan showing canola crop. It is calculated from the proportional abundances pi of where in search of food. It is particularly difficult when each species (abundance of the species/total abun- the adjacent habitats are of smaller size. For example / dances, noted here as pi = ni N) according to the follow- preferred habitat of snake, Xenochrophis p. piscator is ing formula water but it can practically go into any of the aforesaid s habitats. Therefore animal species have been partitioned =- Hppå iiln( ). according to their preferred habitats (Table 1). Some i =1 representative species of a particular habitat have also been mentioned in the description of every habitat men- RESULTS tioned below. Agriculture fields/human settlements (Fig. 1). As Vegetation of Cholistan is generally sparse, consist- rainfall is too low (100 to 200 mm) in Cholistan desert ing of xerophytes and halophyte shrubs and grasses for dry-land agriculture, the cropping is an option open but there may be localized areas that represent green to only those households who have irrigated lands. thick patches of shrubs like Callotropis, Prosopis, Arte- About 4% area of Cholistan desert is commanded by ca- mesia etc. nals, fed from three barrages on the Sutlej and Chenab Habitat types. Four types of microhabitats viz. Rivers. The total area commanded by the irrigation sys- dhars, sand dunes, tobas, and agriculture fields and hu- tem amounts to 113,500 ha. Because of water shortage, man settlements have been identified in the study area. the actual area cultivated over two seasons of each year The first three represent the wild habitats of the area but is about 52,600 ha, all of which falls within lesser where the water is available people also grow variety of Cholistan (FAO, 1993). crops, vegetables and fruits. These areas mostly lie The principal crops grown are cotton and guar in the along the desert canals. monsoon or “Kharif” season, and wheat, canola (rape- It is not possible to restrict the movement of animals seed or “raya”) and to a lesser extent, “berseem” (fodder to a particular habitat as they frequently move every- crop) in the dry or “Rabi” season. Because of uncertain 196 Khalid Javed Baig et al. TABLE 1. A Consolidated Alphabetic List of all the Species Collected, Showing Their “Preferred Habitat (PH)” No. Species Name Total SND AGH DHR TAQ PH 1. Bufo stomaticus 556 82 175 28 271 TAQ 2. Euphlyctis c. cyanophlyctis 320 0 0 0 320 TAQ 3. Euphlyctis sp.nov. 84 0 0 0 84 TAQ 4. Hoplobatrachus tigerinus 142 0 0 0 142 TAQ 5. Lissemys punctata andersoni 120 0012TAQ 6. Kachuga smithii 220 0022TAQ 7. Kachuga tecta 80008TAQ 8. Geoclemys hamiltonii 460 0046TAQ 9. Aspideretes gangeticus 160 0016TAQ 10. Calotes v. versicolor 124 42 74 8 0 AGH 11. Trapelus megalonyx 32 18 7 7 0 SND 12. Trapelus agilis pakistanensis 68 32 14 22 0 SND 13. Uromastyx hardwickii 324 113 35 176 0 DHR 14. Crossobamon orientalis 184 184 0 0 0 SND 15. Cyrtopodion scaber 112 67 39 6 0 SND 16. Hemidactylus brooki 36 0 36 0 0 AGH 17. Hemidactylus flaviviridis 176 0 176 0 0 AGH 18. Acanthodactylus cantoris 432 256 94 82 0 SND 19. Mesalina watsonana 10 10 0 0 0 SND 20. Eremias cholistanica 84 62 16 6 0 SND 21. Novoeumeces sp.nov. 28 6 22 0 0 SND 22.
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