Habitat use of Himalayan grey goral in relation to livestock grazing in Machiara National Park, Pakistan
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Nasra Ashraf
, Maqsood Anwar
Abstract
The Himalayan grey goral (Naemorhedus goral bedfordi) occurs in Pakistan and India, and is classified as Near Threatened on The IUCN Red List. This subspecies is threatened primarily by illegal hunting and competition with livestock, resulting in small and fragmented populations. The present study provides information on habitat use by grey goral at two locations in Machiara National Park (MNP), Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan, from 2012 to 2013. One location had low grazing pressure from livestock (Machiara), whereas the other had intensive livestock grazing (Serli Sacha). We determined the distribution of grey goral through direct observations of the animals and by the presence of their faecal pellets. We assessed habitat preferences using Ivlev’s electivity index (IEI) by comparing vegetation and topography at used and unused quadrats along nine monitoring lines. Grey gorals strongly avoided areas with high livestock numbers, particularly grazers (cattle Bos taurus and sheep Ovis aries). Grey gorals were most commonly observed on south-facing slopes between 1970 and 2900 m a.s.l. during all seasons. Grey gorals preferred herbs and grasses (IEI=0.14), used shrubby vegetation in proportion to its availability (IEI=0.03), and avoided densely treed areas (IEI=-0.54). Our study suggests that a comprehensive livestock grazing strategy needs to be developed for the conservation of habitat suitable for grey goral in MNP.
Acknowledgments
We thank the Higher Education Commission, Pakistan for funding this project. We are grateful to Dr. R. Pech, Dr. C. Denys, and an anonymous reviewer for providing useful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. We are also thankful to the officials and field staff of Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Azad Jammu and Kashmir for their support and guidance during field work.
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©2016 by De Gruyter
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Original Studies
- Summer temperature and precipitation govern bat diversity at northern latitudes in Norway
- Structure of three subtropical bat assemblages (Chiroptera) in the Andean rainforests of Argentina
- Morphology, genetics and echolocation calls of the genus Kerivoula (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae: Kerivoulinae) in Thailand
- Status and population structure of a hunted population of Marco Polo Argali Ovis ammon polii (Cetartiodactyla, Bovidae) in Southeastern Tajikistan
- Habitat use of Himalayan grey goral in relation to livestock grazing in Machiara National Park, Pakistan
- Characterization and selection of microhabitat of Microcavia australis (Rodentia: Caviidae): first data in a rocky habitat in the hyperarid Monte Desert of Argentina
- Pregastric and caecal fermentation pattern in Syrian hamsters
- Short Notes
- Barn owl pellets collected in coastal savannas yield two additional species of small mammals for French Guiana
- Wiedomys cerradensis (Gonçalves, Almeida, Bonvicino, 2003) (Rodentia, Cricetidae): first record from the state of Maranhão, Brazil
- Morpho-anatomical characteristics of Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) from Potohar Plateau, Pakistan
- First confirmed records of two bat species for Iraq: Rhinolophus euryale and Myotis emarginatus (Chiroptera)
- An efficient timing device to record activity patterns of small mammals in the field
- First record of Leontopithecus chrysopygus (Primates: Callitrichidae) in Carlos Botelho State Park, São Miguel Arcanjo, São Paulo, Brazil
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Original Studies
- Summer temperature and precipitation govern bat diversity at northern latitudes in Norway
- Structure of three subtropical bat assemblages (Chiroptera) in the Andean rainforests of Argentina
- Morphology, genetics and echolocation calls of the genus Kerivoula (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae: Kerivoulinae) in Thailand
- Status and population structure of a hunted population of Marco Polo Argali Ovis ammon polii (Cetartiodactyla, Bovidae) in Southeastern Tajikistan
- Habitat use of Himalayan grey goral in relation to livestock grazing in Machiara National Park, Pakistan
- Characterization and selection of microhabitat of Microcavia australis (Rodentia: Caviidae): first data in a rocky habitat in the hyperarid Monte Desert of Argentina
- Pregastric and caecal fermentation pattern in Syrian hamsters
- Short Notes
- Barn owl pellets collected in coastal savannas yield two additional species of small mammals for French Guiana
- Wiedomys cerradensis (Gonçalves, Almeida, Bonvicino, 2003) (Rodentia, Cricetidae): first record from the state of Maranhão, Brazil
- Morpho-anatomical characteristics of Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) from Potohar Plateau, Pakistan
- First confirmed records of two bat species for Iraq: Rhinolophus euryale and Myotis emarginatus (Chiroptera)
- An efficient timing device to record activity patterns of small mammals in the field
- First record of Leontopithecus chrysopygus (Primates: Callitrichidae) in Carlos Botelho State Park, São Miguel Arcanjo, São Paulo, Brazil