Research Impact of Natural Events and Anthropogenic Activities on the Biodiversity of Margallah Hills National Park Islamabad (MHNP)

Contents lists available at Journal homepage: http://twasp.info/journal/home Research Impact of Natural Events and Anthropogenic Activities on the Biodiversity of Margallah Hills National Park Islamabad (MHNP) Sadam Hussain Chandio*1=, Sanjrani Manzoor Ahmed2=, Seerat ul Ain Bhutto3, Muneer Ahmed Sanjrani4, Nafees Ali Khaskheli5 1,3,4School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China 2School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, China 5School of Geophysics, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China = Authors contributed equally *Corresponding Author : S H Chandio Email: [email protected] Published online : 28 Feb, 2019 Abstract: Margallah Hills National Park is one of the ecologically significant areas in Pakistan occupying an area of 17386 ha. It is a diverse Park having dense biodiversity of Plants, Animals and Birds species, water courses flowing through the Heart of this National Park from Kurang River and its tributaries to Soan River. Margallah Hill National Park is a home of 600 plants species, 250 birds’ varieties, 38 mammals’ species and 13 species of reptiles. MHNP has a different recreational spots that attracts the tourists to visit. In the past few years, the problem of unsustainable tourism, solid waste and wildfire (both natural and anthropogenic) has affected the biodiversity of this Park by changing in the wildlife behavior, damaging their habitats, vulnerability to disturbance in the breeding seasons and juvenile stages of their offspring. The primary and secondary data collection method through participatory approach were used to collect the information includes FGD, s, interviews and questionnaire. More than 100000 people visits the trails (5 and 6) for hiking, and almost 200000 people visits the recreational spots. In the last few years, tourist’s pressure, restaurants and huts has increased the solid waste in the recreational spots causing contamination of water courses and deteriorated the aesthetic value of this park. Natural wildfire has burnt 205.8 acres area in the last four years, which burnt all the floral species and severely impacted the wildlife and its habitat. 90% of the wildfire is caused by the anthropogenic activities except fire season (April to July). After detail analysis of the area, solid waste management plan, awareness campaigns, installation of waste bins, and up gradation of the firefighting techniques and construction of ecological bridges in the national park were proposed for the area. Keywords: Margallah Hills National Park, the Biodiversity, Anthropogenic Activities, pg. 20 Wildlife, Ecology Introduction The Margallah Hills National Park (MHNP) is one of the ecologically significant protected areas in Pakistan. It is located in the foothills of the Himalayan range. MHNP is a diverse park having an area of 17386 hectares (173.9 km square). Margallah Hill National Park is a home of 600 plants species, 250 birds varieties, 24 mammals species and 13 species of reptiles, including mammals (like Asiatic leopards, Gray gorals, Barking Deer, wild boar, golden jackal, red fox, white pigs, pangolin, monkeys, fruit bats), Reptiles such as (Russell’s viper, Indian cobra, snakes, saw scaled viper), vegetation like (deciduous and evergreen shrubs, pine and oaks forests), Birds such as (sky larks, Black grouse, pheasant, the Egyptian vulture, falcons, Indian sparrow hawk, black partridge and eagles)( WWF., 2010, WWF- Pakistan 2009, The Islamabad Wildlife 2016). MHNP was declared a national park on April 27, 1980 under section 21(1) of the Islamabad Wildlife Ordinance (IWO) 1979, and also affirmed as Wildlife sanctuary. According to this section, any commercial activity and settlement in the area is prohibited. But a chain of restaurants, small huts, settlements of people and tourism is affecting this diverse park and its biodiversity by loss of its habitats, disturbance in the breeding seasons, destroying the species of flora and forcing the animals to migrate. Moreover, solid waste generated by the restaurants, huts and tourists have increased the pollution and deteriorate the aesthetic value of this National Park. Most of the waste includes polythene bags, food packages. plastic bottles, wrappers, metals, glass, oil, sewage water etc. contaminating the water courses, roots of plants and trees, animals that drinks contaminated water and feed on the solid waste thrown by hotels and tourists. Plastic bottles and polythene bags are non-biodegradable and persist for longer period of time and affect the fertility of soil (WWF-Pakistan 2009, The Islamabad Wildlife 2016, Sanjrani MA 2019). Wildfire is a key factor in disturbing the biodiversity, damaging the flora and affecting the wild animals (fauna and avifauna) due to habitat loss. Illegal urban encroachments, poaching, and tree chopping is affecting the ecosystem of this park. (NCP 2017)."The whole purpose of a national park is to conserve and protect. Ideally, there is very little to no human activity in the core areas of these parks and it is usually limited to research. Development and Construction of roads has resulted in the decrease of wildlife interaction and established a physical barrier on two sides of the roads. Research centre, (Dr. Fakhar Abbas of the Bio resource Research Centre ) has documented that in 2003, approximately, 40 grey gorals has been sighted in MHNP. Due to anthropogenic activities and excessive tourism, there were no pg. 21 signs of grey gorals in 2011. Barking Deer, which were huge in numbers, are also disappearing from the area, not only due to habitat loss but also by poaching. Hundreds of cars travelling on the roads towards restaurants and spots have been disturbing the wildlife and its habitat due to light and noise. There are many lights on the road even during late at night which is seriously disturbing the wildlife at the national park. Several animals have been hit by the vehicles on the roads, among them wild boar is common. Unscientific solid waste management, open defecation and poor condition of septic tanks; and direct disposal of solid waste in the water courses or on the exposed surfaces, were major sources of bacterial contamination. Pollutants and microbiological contamination in water bodies were found and anthropogenic activities and hazardous practices such as solid waste dump sites, open defecation, and poor conditions of existing septic tanks are suggested as possibly affecting water quality (Manfredi 2010, Sanjrani MA 2017, Ghimire 2013, Sanjrani MA 2018, Sanjrani MA 2018b) There are obvious direct impacts of recreation and tourism such as clearing of vegetation for infrastructure or damage from trampling, horse riding, mountain biking and off road vehicles. As well, there are less obvious but potentially more severe indirect impacts. This includes self-propagating impacts associated with the spread of some weeds from trails and roads. It also includes the severe impact on native vegetation, including many rare and threatened plants (Pickering 2007). This Study was conducted to know the Impact of Natural Events and Anthropogenic Activities on the Biodiversity of Margallah Hills National Park Islamabad (MHNP). The primary and secondary data collection method through participatory approach were used to collect the information includes FGD, s, interviews and questionnaire. Biodiversity of Margallah Hills National Park: There are several animal, plants and birds in Margallah Hills National Park, which is the beauty of this park, given in table no. 1. Table 1 Biodiversity of Margallah Hills National Park: Common Leopard Indian Wild Boar Barking Deer Indian Wolf Grey Goral Asiatic Jackal Jungle Cat Rhesus Macaque Common Red Fox Small Asiatic Desert Hare Yellow Throated Marten Mongoose Small Indian Civet Grey Mongoose Indian crested Mammals of Park Hills National Margallah pg. 22 Porcupine Indian Pangolin Kashmir masked Small Kashmir Palm civet Flying Squirrel Hedgehog Northern Palm Hill Fox Squirrel Rodents Shrew False Vampire Mango Kachnar Khajoor or Date Palm Chir or Pine Ber Dhaman Amaltas or laburnum Bohr or Banyan Phulai Sheesham Baid or Willow Pine Common trees Margallah of Park National Hills Lantana( Marijuana (Bhang) Papper Mulberry PanchPhulli) (vilayatee toot) Carrot grass Common cocklebur Castor Oil plant ( (Gandibooti) (Kandiari) Arind or Harnoli) Invasive Invasive plant species of Margallah hills national park Yellow-bellied house Spiny-tailed ground Spotted Indian house gecko lizard gecko Asian garden lizard Indian fringe-toed Himalayan skink sand lizard Fat-tailed gecko Keeled rock gecko Striped grass skink Agrorevally rock Punjab snake eyed Yellow bellied mole Lacerta skink agama Lizards Lizards hills park national Margallah and turtles of Indian cricket frog Southern Asian toad Skittering frog Marbled balloon frog Bull frog or tiger frog Indian burrowing frog Murree frog Indus valley toad Ant frog Amphibians Amphibians of Margallah hills park national Indian roller Short toed eagle Indian tree pie Indian Oriental white –eye Small minivet Indian blue robin Rusty-cheeked Crested lark White crested kalij pheasant scimitar babbler Northern hobby Black crested tit Hoopoe Common Margallah hills birds national park of pg. 23 Eurasian sparrow Golden oriole Blue throated barbet hawk Pine bunting Yellow ramped Leaf Mock strawberry Creeping wood sorrel Prostrate bindweed Speedwell False mallow Philippine violet Dwarf morning glory black eyed geranium Hibiscus Hairy gerbera daisy Yellow berried Field bindweed

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