Resource Partitioning Among Sympatric Carnivore Species Inhabiting Pir Lasura National Park (PLNP), AJ&K During 2014-2017
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RESOURCE PARTITIONING AMONG SYMPATRIC CARNIVORE SPECIES AT PIR LASURA NATIONAL PARK, AZAD JAMMU & KASHMIR, PAKISTAN FARAZ AKRIM 11-arid-3899 Department of Wildlife Management Faculty of Forestry, Range Management and Wildlife Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Pakistan 2018 RESOURCE PARTITIONING AMONG SYMPATRIC CARNIVORE SPECIES AT PIR LASURA NATIONAL PARK, AZAD JAMMU & KASHMIR, PAKISTAN by FARAZ AKRIM (11-arid-3899) A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Wildlife Management Department of Wildlife Management Faculty of Forestry, Range Management and Wildlife Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi Pakistan 2018 IN THE NAME OF ALLAH The Most Merciful The Most Beneficent The Most Knowing “It is ALLAH who has made for you the earth as a resting place and the sky as a canopy and has given you shape and made your shapes beautiful and has provided for you sustenance of things pure and good. Such is ALLAH your Lord. So glory to ALLAH. The Lord of the world” GOLDEN SAYINGS OF THE HOLY PROPHET HAZRAT MUHAMMAD (Peace be upon him) “Keep your thought well composed, and search the fact of wisdom for it, otherwise mind gets weary and the people get weary, so ponder into the knowledge and science thought fully and search for new facts and ideas” I DEDICATE THIS EFFORT TO OUR BELOVED HOLY PROPHET HAZARAT MUHAMMAD (PEACE BE UPON HIM) CONTENTS Page List of Tables xii List of Figures xv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xxi ABSTRACT xxiv 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1.1 Common Leopard 4 1.1.2 Asiatic/ Golden Jackal 5 1.1.3 Red Fox 7 1.1.4 Common/Asian Palm Civet 9 1.1.5 Small Indian Civet 10 1.1.6 Indian Grey Mongoose 12 1.1.7 Small Indian Mongoose 13 1.2 STUDY AREA 16 1.2.1 Study Objectives 17 1.3 RATIONALE OF THE STUDY 18 1.4 ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS 18 2 DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF CARNIVORES AT PIR 20 LASURA NATIONAL PARK, AZAD JAMMU AND KASHMIR, PAKISTAN 2.1 INTRODUCTION 20 2.2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 21 2.3 MATERIALS AND METHODS 24 2.3.1 Diversity of Carnivores 24 2.3.2 Distribution of Carnivore Species 25 2.3.3 Statistical Analysis 26 2.4 RESULTS 26 2.4.1 Diversity of Carnivore Species 26 2.4.2 Distribution of Carnivore Species 27 2.4.2.1 Distribution of common leopard 27 2.4.2.2 Distribution of Asiatic jackal 27 2.4.2.3 Distribution of Kashmir hill fox 31 2.4.2.4 Distribution of Asian palm civet 31 2.4.2.5 Distribution of small Indian civet 39 2.4.2.6 Distribution of Indian grey mongoose 39 2.4.2.7 Distribution of small Indian mongoose 44 2.5 DISCUSSION 44 2.6 CHAPTER SUMMARY 55 3 DIET COMPOSITION OF SYMPATRIC CARNIVORE SPECIES 56 AT PIR LASURA NATIONAL PARK 3.1 INTRODUCTION 56 3.2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 57 3.3 MATERIALS AND METHODS 59 3.3.1 Molecular Identification of Carnivore Scats 59 3.3.2 Scat Analysis 63 3.3.2.1 Whole mount preparation 63 3.3.2.2 Scale replication 65 3.3.2.3 Identification of plant matter recovered 65 3.3.3 Statistical Analysis 65 3.4 RESULTS 67 3.4.1 Molecular Identification of Carnivore Scats 67 3.4.1.1 Accuracy and precision for molecular identification of 68 carnivore scats 3.4.2 Morphological Characteristics of Carnivore Scats 70 3.4.3 Diet Composition of Carnivore Species 70 3.4.3.1 Diet composition of common leopard 70 3.4.3.2 Diet of Asiatic jackal 79 3.4.3.3 Diet composition of Kashmir hill fox 84 3.4.3.4 Diet composition of Asian palm civet 88 3.4.3.5 Diet composition of small Indian civet 93 3.4.3.6 Diet composition of Indian grey mongoose 101 3.4.3.7 Diet composition of small mongoose 102 3.4.4 Diversity Index, Richness and Evenness of Prey 110 3.5 DISCUSSION 111 3.6 CHAPTER SUMMARY 127 4 ASSESMENT OF CARNIVORE PREY SPECIES ABUNDANCE 129 AT PIR LASURA NATIONAL PARK 4.1 INTRODUCTION 129 4.2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 130 4.3 MATERIALS AND METHODS 131 4.4 RESULTS 132 4.5 DISCUSSION 135 4.6 CHAPTER SUMMARY 138 5 NICHE BREADTH AND NICHE OVERLAP AMONG SYMPATRIC 140 CARNIVORE SPECIES AT PIR LASURA NATIONAL PARK 5.1 INTRODUCTION 140 5.2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 142 5.3 MATERIALS AND METHODS 143 5.3.1 Niche Breadth 143 5.3.2 Niche Overlap 144 5.4 RESULTS 145 5.4.1 Dietary Niche Breadth 145 5.4.2 Niche Overlap 148 5.5 DISCUSSION 148 5.6 CHAPTER SUMMARY 155 6 ASSESSMENT OF HUMAN-CARNIVORE CONFLICT AT PIR 157 LASUARA NATIONAL PARK 6.1 INTRODUCTION 157 6.2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 159 6.3 MATERIALS AND METHODS 160 6.3.1 Methods 160 6.3.1.1 Questionnaire survey 162 6.3.1.2 Statistical analysis 165 6.4 RESULTS 167 6.4.1 Major Predator 167 6.4.2 Daily Attack Pattern 170 6.4.3 Monthly Attack Frequency 170 6.4.4 Seasonal and Annual Variation 170 6.4.5 Guarding, Herd Size and Penning 173 6.4.6 Local Perception About Conservation Status 173 6.4.7 Retaliatory Killing 174 6.4.8 Financial Losses 174 6.5 DISCUSSION 174 6.6 CHAPTER SUMMARY 179 7 GENERAL DISCUSSION 181 7.1 RECOMMENDATIONS 209 7.2 FUTURE PROSPECTIVE 210 SUMMARY 211 LITERATURE CITED 214 APPENDICES 246 List of Tables Table No. Page 2.1 Direct and indirect signs of carnivores in and around Pir Lasura 32 National Park, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan 2. 2 Distribution of carnivore species in and around Pir Lasura National 33 Park, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan, as shown by the occurrence of any of the direct and indirect signs of the species. The + signs shows presence while – signs shows absence of the species at particular site 3.1 Confusion matrix of scats of carnivore species identification using 71 morphological and molecular identification techniques 3.2 Error rates in species identification in the field corrected with 72 molecular identification of carnivore scats 3.3 Measurements of morphological characteristics of sympatric 73 carnivore scats (Mean ± SEM) sampled from in and around Pir Lasura National Park, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan 3.4 Percent volume of prey items recovered from the scats of common 77 leopard 3.5 Percent frequency of occurrence of prey items in the scats of 77 common leopard (Panthera pardus) collected from the PLNP, AJ&K 3.6 Percent volume of prey items recovered from the scats of Asiatic 85 jackal 3.7 Percent frequency of occurrence of prey items in diet of Asiatic 85 jackal 3.8 Percent volume of prey items recovered from the scats of Kashmir 89 hill fox 3.9 Percent frequency of occurrence of prey items in diet of Kashmir 89 hill fox 3.10 Percent volume of prey items recovered from the scats of Asian 94 Palm civet 3.11 Percent frequency of occurrence of prey items in diet of Asian palm 94 civet 3.12 Percent volume of prey items recovered from the scats of small 98 Indian civet 3.13 Percent frequency of occurrence of prey items in diet of small 98 Indian civet 3.14 Percent volume of prey items recovered from the scats of Indian 103 grey mongoose 3.15 Percent frequency of occurrence of prey items in diet of Indian grey 103 mongoose 3.16 Percent volume of prey items recovered from the scats of small 107 Indian mongoose 3.17 Percent frequency of occurrence of prey items in diet of small 107 Indian mongoose 3.18 Prey species diversity index, prey species richness and evenness in 113 diet of sympatric carnivore species in and around Pir Lasura National Park, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan 4.1 Abundance estimation of rodent prey species in the PLNP, AJ&K 133 4.2 Abundance estimation mammalian species in the PLNP, AJ&K 133 4.3 Abundance estimation of bird species in and around PLNP (20 133 transects, Transect 200m wide 500m long) 4.4 Abundance of amphibians and reptiles in the PLNP, AJ&K 136 4.5 Abundance estimation of invertebrates in the PLNP, AJ&K 136 4.6 Abundance of domestic prey species in district Kotli Azad 136 Kashmir. (Data source report DCR 2017.18-5-2017 data collected from 52 units. Department of Livestock and dairy development Kotli AJ&K. District area (1862 km sq.) 5.1 Niche breadth of sympatric carnivores occurring in and around Pir 146 Lasura National Park, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan L= Niche breadth; Lst= standardized niche breadth (Value 0-1) 5.2 Niche overlap between sympatric carnivore species occurring in 149 and around Pir Lasura National Park, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan 6.1 Livestock, dog, pet and poultry killed by various carnivore species 169 in and around Pir Lasura National Park (PLNP), Azad Jammu and Kashmir during 2008-2015 6.2 Monthly variation in attacks of common leopard (Panthera pardus) 172 during 2008-2015 in and around Pir Lasura National Park, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan List of Figures Fig. No. Page 1.1 Global distribution of common leopard. Distribution data retrieved 8 from IUCN database and map generated using Arc GIS software version 10.1. 1.2 Global distribution of Asiatic jackal. Distribution data retrieved 8 from IUCN database and map generated using Arc GIS software version 10.1 1.3 Global distribution of the red fox.