Distribution and Abundance of Wild Mammals in Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park and Human- Wildlife Interaction in Sundarijal Vdc
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DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF WILD MAMMALS IN SHIVAPURI NAGARJUN NATIONAL PARK AND HUMAN- WILDLIFE INTERACTION IN SUNDARIJAL VDC Deependra Kumar Jha T.U. Registration No: 5-1-37-99-98 T.U. Examination Roll N0: 13055 Batch: 2066/2067 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Science in Zoology with special paper Ecology and Environment Submitted to Central Department of Zoology Institute of Science and Technology Tribhuvan University Kirtipur, Kathmandu Nepal 2015 DECLARATION I hereby declare that the work presented in this thesis has been done by myself, and has not been submitted elsewhere for the award of any degree. All sources of information have been specifically acknowledged by reference to the author(s) or institution(s). Date…………… ………………………… Deependra Kumar Jha Roll No: 13055 i LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION This is to recommend that the thesis entitled “Distribution and Abundance of wild mammals in Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park and Human-wildlife interaction in Sundarijal VDC” has been carried out by Mr. Deependra Kumar Jha for the partial fulfillment of Master’s Degree of Science in Zoology with special paper Ecology and Environment. This is his original work and has been carried out under my supervision. To the best of my knowledge, this thesis work has not been submitted for any other degree in any institutions. Date:……………………… ...................................................... Supervisor Dr. Mukesh Kumar Chalise Associate Professor Central Department of Zoology Tribhuvan University Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal ii LETTER OF APPROVAL On the recommendation of Supervisor “Dr. Mukesh Kumar Chalise”, Associate Professor, Central Department of Zoology, Tribhuvan University, this thesis submitted by Mr. Deependra Kumar Jha entitled “Distribution and Abundance of wild mammals in Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park and Human-wildlife interaction in Sundarijal VDC” is approved for the examination and submitted to the Tribhuvan University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Master’s Degree of Science in Zoology with special paper Ecology and Environment. Date………….. .................................................... Prof. Dr. Ranjana Gupta Head of Department Central Department of Zoology Tribhuvan University Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal iii CERTIFICATE OF ACCEPTANCE This thesis work submitted by Mr. Deependra Kumar Jha entitled “Distribution and Abundance of wild mammals in Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park and Human- wildlife interaction in Sundarijal VDC” has been accepted as the partial fulfillment for the requirements for Master's Degree of Science in Zoology with special paper Ecology and Environment. EVALUATION COMMITTEE …………………… ................................. Supervisor Head of Department Dr. Mukesh Kumar Chalise Prof. Dr. Ranjana Gupta Associate Professor ................................ .............................. Dr. Jhamak B. Karki Dr. Tej B. Thapa External examiner Internal Examiner Date of Examination: / / iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research work has been accomplished by the kind support, valuable suggestions and constant encouragement from many individuals. I wish to express my sincere gratitude and respect to my supervisor Associated Prof. Dr. Mukesh Kumar Chalise for his noble guidance and supervision for the field and write up of thesis. It is my pleasure to express my deepest gratitude to Prof. Dr. Ranjana Gupta, Head of the Central Department of Zoology for her kind co-operation in providing the essential facilities required during study period. My special thanks go to Mr. Dipendra Kumar Yadav of Pinnacle College for helping me during the identification of pellet groups of different mammals. I am grateful to all my teaching, administration and supportive staffs of Central Department of Zoology for their valuable support, guidance and help. I am very much thankful to Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) and Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park (SNNP) for providing me permission to my research work, library and other necessary information. Also my thank goes to WWF and ICIMOD for providing necessary information and library facilities. I sincerely express my heartfelt gratitude to my parents and family for their love, inspiration and support. Special thanks go to my friends who helped me in study sites during data collection in Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park: Dipendra, Subash and Narendra. Finally, I would like to ask for forgiveness and thanks to all whom I forget to acknowledge despite their contribution to this research. Deependra Kumar Jha Roll no. 13055 T.U. Regd. No. 5-1-37-99-98 Batch: 2066/2067 v CONTENTS Pages Declaration i Letter of Recommendation ii Letter of Approval iii Letter of Acceptance iv Acknowledgements v Contents vi List of Tables ix List of Figures x List of Abbreviations xi Abstract xii 1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1. Background 1 1.2. Objectives 4 1.3. Limitation of study 4 1.4. Rational of study 5 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 6 2.1. Distribution and abundance of mammals 6 2.2. Habitat characteristics and preference 7 2.3. Human-wildlife interaction 8 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS 10 3.1. Study Area 11 3.1.1. Climate 11 3.1.2. Geology and soil 11 3.1.3. Flora and fauna 11 3.1.4. Land use in Sundarijal 12 3.1.5. Socio-economic status 12 3.1.6. Animal husbandry 12 3.1.7. Farming system 12 3.2. Materials 13 3.3. Preliminary field survey 13 vi 3.4. Distribution and abundance of wild mammals 13 3.4.1. Sampling design 13 3.4.2. Indirect methods 14 3.4.3. Line transect method 15 3.5. Habitat characteristics and Preference 16 3.5.1. Quadrate method 16 3.5.2. Vegetation analysis 16 3.5.3. Habitat preference 17 3.6. Human-wildlife interaction 17 3.6.1. Sampling 17 3.6.2. Data collection 17 3.6.2.1. Field Observation 18 3.6.2.2. Questionnaire Survey 18 3.6.3. Secondary data collection 18 3.6.4. Field observation and Net Area Damage measurement 18 3.7. Data analysis 19 3.7.1. Mammal’s data 19 3.7.2. Vegetation data 20 3.7.3. Correlation coefficient 21 3.8. Site Selections 21 4. RESULTS 23 4.1. Distribution and abundance of wild mammals 23 4.1.1. Mammalian species 23 4.1.2. Habitat-wise (Total mammals) 24 4.1.3. The average % distribution of each representative species 25 4.1.4. Distribution pattern 25 4.1.5. Chi-square test of significance 26 4.2. Habitat characteristics 28 4.2.1. Vegetation communities 28 4.2.3. Habitat preference 29 4.2.3. Pellet groups abundance with respect to habitat variables 31 4.2.4. Direct observation 32 4.3. Human-wildlife interaction 33 4.3.1. Frequency of wildlife’s visit to different crops 33 4.3.2. The Gross Area and Net Area Damaged of crops by wildlife 34 4.3.3. Net Area Damage (NAD) of crops by wildlife 34 4.3.4. Percentage of Net Area Damage (NAD) of crops by wildlife 35 4.3.5. Ranking of wildlife in crop damage 36 4.3.6. Total number of livestock reared by the sampled households 36 vii 5. DISCUSSION 37 5.1. Distribution and abundance of wild mammals 37 5.1.1. Mammals distribution and abundance 37 5.1.2. Distribution pattern 38 5.1.3. Pellet (or faecal) group abundance with respect to habitat variables 38 5.2. Habitat characteristics 38 5.2.1. Vegetation assessment 38 5.2.2. Habitat preference 39 5.3. Human-wildlife interaction around SNNP 40 6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 42 6.1. Conclusion 42 6.2. Recommendations 43 7. REFERENCES 44 APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire 50 APPENDIX 2: Annual rainfall (mm) at station Sundarijal 56 APPENDIX 3: Mean Importance Value Index (IVI) of Vegetation in SNNP recorded from Different samplers 57 APPENDIX 4: Density of individual tree species in different habitat types (Specific to quadrates) 59 APPENDIX 5: SNNP mammals population data collection sheet 60 APPENDIX 6: Photo plates 61 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Faecal (or pellet) group abundance (pellet group/quadrate) of wild mammals (Species-wise) 23 Table 2: Faecal (or pellet) group abundance (pellet group/plot standard deviation) of wild mammals (Habitat-wise) 24 ± Table 3: Table showing the calculation of distribution pattern 25 Table 4: Number of wild mammal’s faecal (or pellet) group in different habitat type 26 Table 5: Calculation of chi-square (χ2) test of significance 26 Table 6: Tree densities and canopy coverage in different forest types 28 Table 7: Habitat preferences 29 Table 8: Correlation between pellet groups abundance and tree density as well as canopy coverage 31 Table 9: Calculation of correlation coef. between pellet gr. abundance and tree density 31 Table 10: Calculation of correlation coef. between pellet gr. abundance and canopy cover 32 Table 11: Mammals observed along the studied transects 32 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Map showing the Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park, Nepal 10 Figure 2: Diagrammatic track line of each sample 14 Figure 3: Diagrammatic presentation of line transect 15 Figure 4: Map of study sites in SNNP 15 Figure 5: Bar diagram of pellet group abundance (pellet group/plot) 24 Figure 6: Pie chart showing average % distribution of wild mammals 25 Figure 7: Tree densities and canopy coverage in different forest types 28 Figure 8: No. of different mammals at different habitat 30 Figure 9: Frequency of wildlife’s visit to different crops in the sampled area 33 Figure 10: Total Gross Area and Net Area Damage of crops by wildlife in the sampled area (in ropani) 34 Figure 11: Net Area Damage (NAD) of different crops by different wildlife 35 Figure 12: Percentage of Net Area Damage of different crops done by different wildlife 35 Figure 13: Ranking of wildlife in crop damage