Journal of Wildlife and Biodiversity
Volume:3 Issue: 4, Summer and Autumn 2019

n recent decades, the rate of extinction of species has been increased continually all over the world and lack of effective and efficient conservation strategies will lead to extinction of a large number of species. Determination of habitat suitability is an essential necessity for management and conservation of wildlife. Suitable habitats play a crucial role in the survival and reproduction of species; therefore, paying more attention to these areas in wildlife management and conservation will result in more effective conservation. In this study, the locations of presence of large carnivores and herbivores in Golestan National Park have been recorded during 2014- 2015 to predict the presence of the species and determine the environmental parameters affecting their presence, also to specify species richness hotspots in this area. For this purpose, the modeling was performed by using the MaxEnt and Gap Analysis methods. The findings show that though the park’s conservative zones do not adequately overlap with suitable habitats of some species such as gazelle and wolf, fortunately, these zones cover a significant proportion of the park’s species richness hotspots. Certainly, modification and extension of the conservative coverage area of zones 1 and 2 to the park’s areas of species richness hotspots containing a richness of 4 to 9 species, also modifying and extending the limits of these zones in favor of species whose habitat suitability has lower overlap with zones 1 and 2 will lead to more efficient conservation in Golestan National Park; therefore, as a result of revising the zoning of Golestan National Park, this goal can be approached in near future.

During 2010-2017, a total 296 specimens including Romanogobio persus, Hemiculter leucisculus, Schizothorax pelzami, Rhodeus amarus and Cabdio morar (Cyprinidae), Glyptothorax silviae (Sisoridae), Planiliza abu (Mugilidae), Iranocichla persa (Cichlidae), Glossogobius giuris (Gobiidae) and Channa gachua (Channidae) were collected using electrofishing device with ranging from 3.3 to 14.95 cm (in total length) and 0.85 to 36.57 g (in total weight). Based on the results, the growth coefficient values “b” ranged 2.75 (R. amarus) to 3.62 (C. morar). R2 in length-weight relationships estimated were greater than 0.851. Also condition factor of the studied fishes was ranged from 0.6 (R. persus) to 1.47 (R. amarus). This study represents the first reports of LWRs data for G. giuris, I. persa and R. persus from Iranian inland waters and this reported for R. persus and I. persa are first in fish base. The results of this study provides useful information for further fisheries management, fish population dynamic studies and for comparisons in future studies

The dearth of understanding the importance of bird species diversity and abundance contributes to the low rate of conservation and distribution of wildlife species in the ecosystem. Diversity and abundance are equally important factors for improving the ecological system. This study examined bird species diversity and abundance in Borgu Sector of Kainji Lake National Park, Niger State, Nigeria. Line transect method was used to carry out birds’ survey at five different tracks, namely: Hussaini Mashi, Gilbert Child, Bukar Shuaib, Shehu Shagari and Mahmud Lapai Tracks. Data were obtained on birds’ species and abundance through the use of point count for bird survey. Frequency counts, percentages, means, Shannon-Weiner diversity Index, Simpson’s Diversity Index, Analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyse data. A total number of 70 bird species in 31 families were recorded during the survey. Shannon-Weiner diversity Index results showed that Mahmud Lapai track had the highest diversity (4.185) compared to Hussaini Mashi (3.726), Gilbert Child (3.928), Shehu Shagari (4.106) and Bukar Shuaib (4.135) tracks respectively. The results also indicated that bird species diversity was not equally distributed in the tracks. ANOVA showed that bird species abundance was normally distributed and varied significantly (p < 0.05) among the study sites. The study concluded that bird species diversity and abundance are key contributors to a healthy ecological system. Birds are good indicators of the biological network thereby revealing the status of the park environmental degradation. The study recommended that stakeholders should improve on the enactment, legislation and enforcement of laws that will safeguard areas where fauna and flora are effectively conserved

The information regarding animal distribution and perceptiveness of local communities play an essential role in designing and planning protected areas, and their management policies as well. To this aim, we mapped the distribution of our focal species, Nilgai antelope (Boselaphus tragocamelus) in and around the Abohar wildlife sanctuary from December 2017 to November 2018. Mapping the species density helped in identifying the critical spots regarding animal density. Our data indicated Nilgai density ranging from 0.0654 to 6.946 individuals/km2. The seasonal group size of males and females was observed to be significantly different throughout (p<0.01) the study period. The mean female group size ranged from 3.91 individuals to 6.26 individuals, whereas, in comparison, the average male group size varied less from 4.00 individuals to 4.76 individuals. Concurrently, the attitude of local people towards Nilgai and its related attributes including crop damage, vehicle collisions and conservation was recorded through the semi-structured survey of local individuals (n = 139) working in the farming or allied practices. The results showed that 37% of the respondents considered Nilgai to be responsible for crop depredation, while more than 50% perceived negative Human-Nilgai through vehicle collisions in the sanctuary. Considering the expansive views of the respondents on other related animals and environmental factors, the 3D perceptual maps were prepared to exhibit a holistic sight of their opinion which can help strengthen the management of wild animals in the sanctuary

The skeletochronological technique has been used to estimatethe age of the Persian pond turtle in the north of Iran. In this study, the phalange and femur bones were removed, decalcified in chloric acid, and sections stained with Hematoxylin-Eosin. The age of the specimens was determined by the number of lines of arrested growth (LAGs) in cross sections. Additionally, correlation between age and eight morphometric characters of E. o. persica were analysed using Pearson correlation. The skeletochronology results showed the mean age in the specimens (n=23) from the Golestan, Mazandaran and Guilan provinces were estimated four years (range= from 3 to 6) in juveniles (n=4), nine years (range from 6 to 12) in males (n=8), and 9.5 years (range from 7 to 15) in females (n=11). Females were significantly longer (minimum straight carapace length (SCL1); 146.8±9.08 mm) than males (SCL1; 123.36±8.11 mm) but there was no statistically significant difference in the age structures between the sexes. Moreover, the results of correlation test shows that the correlation coefficients were not significant between morphometric characters and age (P> 0.05)

Malayan sun bear is the smallest among all bears and the only tropical bear species inhabiting ‎the lowland tropical forest of Southeast Asia. Once abundant, they are now considered as ‎priority species due to excessive poaching and hunting across their home range. Although ‎reported from several parts of Northeast India, the paucity of biological information on the ‎species and its distribution has been a major constrained for conservation efforts. The study in ‎Dampa Tiger Reserve, Mizoram, India determines the ecology, distribution and habitat ‎selection of Sun bear, using foraging signs and invasive camera trapping techniques. A total of ‎‎43 transects were walked with 310 sampling plot. Evidence in forms of claw marks was found ‎to be highest (60.23%) followed by scats (25.81%), nests (3.56%), cavity (6.23%) and footprints ‎‎(4.15%). The mean occurrence of bear signs was 17.2±0.8. Bamboo forest and Tropical semi-evergreen forest with elevation between 501-1000 msl were found to be the most preferred ‎habitat for sun bear. Majority of sun bear signs (74.1%) were observed in undisturbed forest ‎regardless of sites (r2= 0.8291, df= 3, p< 0.2713). With a camera trapping effort of 647 trap-‎nights, 18 independent images of sun bear were obtained. The photo-capture and block wise ‎distribution index was estimated to be 5.26 with a trapping index of 1.89. Deserted areas within ‎the tiger reserve serve as excellent sources of frugivory and fruiting phenology. From the study, ‎it was determined that the population of sun bear in the region is relatively low and restricted to a few ‎patches within the reserve. Habitats of sun bear are also under serious threats due to agricultural ‎expansion and ever-increasing dependency of local communities on forest resources, hence ‎immediate measures are needed for the conservation of sun bear in the region

House sparrows are associated with rural and urban regions and are a common species of any urban ecosystem. Previous studies confirm that urbanization and industrialization are two major factors causing the loss of suitable foraging and nesting space in urban areas for house sparrows, contributing to their rapid population decline. In this context, we studied habitat selection by sparrows and the influence of season and urbanization on it. Totally 58 transects were traversed from August 2017 to July 2018 to locate house sparrows across five seasons and five urbanization types. Habitat variables for each occupied site and systematically selected sites were quantified. We found that suburban and high-density urban areas were mostly used by the species. Habitat variables like the presence of residential areas, old buildings, vegetation, water, grocery shops, food provision, small eateries, open drainage systems, and open household waste dump influenced the habitat selection by house sparrows. In order to conserve sparrows in Delhi, it is very important to conserve its habitat or artificially create it by the installation of artificial nest boxes and by providing food and water for them