Population assessment of Himalayan lynx (Lynx lynx isabellinus) and conflict with humans in the Hindu Kush mountain range of District Chitral, Pakistan

Paper Details

Research Paper 01/02/2015
Views (371) Download (14)
current_issue_feature_image
publication_file

Population assessment of Himalayan lynx (Lynx lynx isabellinus) and conflict with humans in the Hindu Kush mountain range of District Chitral, Pakistan

Jaffar Ud Din, Fridolin Zimmermann, Muhammad Ali, Khurshid Ali Shah, Muhammad Ayub, Siraj Khan, Muhammad Ali Nawaz
J. Bio. Env. Sci.6( 2), 31-39, February 2015.
Certificate: JBES 2015 [Generate Certificate]

Abstract

This paper is the first-ever attempt to outline the interaction of Himalayan lynx (Lynx lynx isabellinus) with humans and its abundance measured through motion triggered camera traps in Hindu Kush Mountain Range of District Chitral, Pakistan. The study was undertaken in December-January, 2011 for a period of 35 days with a total trap days of 770 resulting the corroboration of the sporadic occurrence of lynx with a minimum population estimate of 6 individuals. High capture rate of human and livestock (90% of the total photos) exposes the immense human induced pressure on this fragile mountain ecosystem and ascribable to the dwindling population of the species in the region. Majority of the respondents (n=166: 90%) reckoned lynx as the rare species. Human acceptance of lynx was lower owing to the predation on livestock and thus was taken more dangerous with perceived danger per respondent of 35.77%. Although protected areas provide suitable habitat for the conservation of species but the non-capture of lynx in the buffer zone highly suggestive that sound conservation measures are required to inflate the survival of the species outside the protected areas in the longer run.

VIEWS 16

Angst C, Olsson P, Breitenmoser U. 2000. Übergriffe von Luchsen auf Kleinvieh und Gehegetiere in der Schweiz: Entwicklung und Verteilung der Schäden. KORA-Bericht 5d, 1-58.

Avgan B, Zimmermann F, Güntert M, Arikan F, Breitenmoser U. 2014. The first density estimation of an isolated Eurasian lynx population in Southwest Asia. Wildlife Biology 20(2), 217-221.

Bagchi S, Mishra C. 2006. Living with large carnivores: predation on livestock by the snow leopard (Uncia uncia). Journal of Zoology 268, 217–224.

Bouton SN, Frederick PC. 2003. Stakeholders’ perceptions of a wading bird colony as a community resource in the Brazilian Pantanal. Conservation Biology 17, 297–306.

Breitenmoser U, Breitenmoser-Würsten C, Von Arx M, Zimmermann F, Ryser A, Angst C, Molinari-Jobin A, Molinari P, Linnell J, Siegenthaler A, Weber JM. 2006. Guidelines for the monitoring of the lynx. KORA Bericht nr 33e, 1–31.

Breitenmoser U, Mallon DP, von Arx M, Breitenmoser-Wursten C. 2008. Lynx lynx. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 012.1.<www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 11 October 2012.

Burnham K P, Overton WS. 1978. Estimation of the size of a closed population when capture probabilities vary among animals. Biometrika 65, 625-633.

Din JU, Hameed S, Shah KA, Khan MA, Ali M, Nawaz MA. 2013. Abundance of canids and human canid conflict in the Hindu Kush Mountain range of Pakistan. Wildlife Biology in Practice 9, 20-29. doi: 10.2461/wbp.2013.9.4

Din J U, Nawaz MA. 2010. Status of the Himalayan lynx in district Chitral, NWFP, Pakistan. Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences 20, 17-22.

Guil F, Agudín S, El-Khadir N, Fernandez-Olalla M, Figueredo J, Domínguez FG, Garzon P, Gonzalez G, Muñoz-Igualada J, Oria J. 2010. Factors conditioning the camera-trapping efficiency for the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus). European Journal of Wildlife Research 56, 633–640.

Gupta  S,  Mondal  K,  Sankar  K,  Qureshi  Q. 2009. Estimation of Striped Hyena (Hyaena hyaena) population using camera traps in Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan, India. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 106, 284-288.

Jackson RM, Roe JD, Wangchuk R, Hunter DO. 2006. Estimating snow leopard population abundance using photography and capture-recapture techniques. Wildlife Society Bulletin 34, 772-781.

Jacomo A, Silveira L, Diniz JAF. 2004. Niche separation between the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), the crab-eating fox (Dusicyonthous) and the hoary fox (Dusicyonvetulus) in central Brazil. Journal of Zoology 262, 99-106.

Jim CY, Xu SSW. 2002. Stifled stakeholders, and subdued participation: interpreting local responses toward Shimentai Nature Reserve in South China. Environmental Management 30, 327–341.

Karanth KU. 1995. Estimating tiger Panthera tigris populations from camera trap data using capture-recapture models. Biological Conservation 71, 333–338.

Karanth KU, Nichols JD. 1998. Estimation of tiger densities in India using photographic captures and recaptures. Ecology 79, 2852-2862.

Larrucea ES, Serra G, Jaeger MN, Barett RH. 2007. Censusing bobcats using remote cameras. Western North American Naturalist 67, 538-548.

Namgail T, Fox JL, Bhatnagar YV. 2007. Carnivore-Caused Livestock Mortality in Trans-Himalaya. Environmental Management 39, 490-496

Nowell K, Jackson P. 1996. Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

NWFP, IUCN Pakistan. 2004. Chitral – An Integrated Development Vision (Chitral Conservation Strategy). IUCN Pakistan and NWFP, Karachi, Pakistan.xiv+103 pp

Obiri JAF, Lawes MJ. 2002. Attitudes of coastal-forest users in Eastern Cape Province to management options arising from new South African forest policies. Environnemental Conservation 29, 519–529.

Oliveira-Santos LGR, Tortato MA, Graipel ME. 2008. Activity pattern of Atlantic Forest small arboreal mammals as revealed by camera traps. Journal of Tropical Ecology 24, 563-567.

Otis D, Burnham KP, White GC, Anderson DR. 1978. Statistical inference from capture data on closed animal populations. Wildlife Monograph 62, 1-135.

Pesenti E, Zimmermann F. 2013. Density estimations of the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in the Swiss Alps. Journal of Mammalogy 94, 73-81.

Sanderson JG. 2007. No mean cat feat. Science 317, 1151.

Sheikh KM, Molur S. 2004. ed. Status and Red List of Pakistan’s Mammals. Based on the Conservation Assessment and Management Plan. 312pp. IUCN Pakistan

Silver SC et al. 2004. The use of camera traps for estimating jaguar Panthera onca abundance and density using capture/recapture analysis. Oryx 38, 148–154.

Stanley TR, Burnham KP. 1999. A closure test for time-specific capture-recapture data. Environmental Ecology Stat 6, 197-209.

Sunquist M, Sunquist F. 2002. Wild Cats of the World. University of Chicago Press.

TEAM Network. 2008. Terrestrial vertebrate protocol implementation manual, v. 3.0. Tropical Ecology, Assessment and Monitoring Network, Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, Conservation International, Washington DC: 56 pp.

White GC, Burnham KP. 1999. Program MARK: survival estimation from populations of marked animals. Bird Study 46 Supplement, 120-138.

White GC, Burnham KP, Anderson DR. 2001. Advanced features of Program Mark. Pages 368-377 in R. Field, R.

White PCL, Newton-Cross GA, Moberly RL, Smart JCR, Baker PJ, Harris S. 2003. The current and future management of wild mammals hunted with dogs in England and Wales. Journal of Environmental Management 67, 187–197.

Zimmermann F, Breitenmoser-Würsten C, Molinari-Jobin A, Breitenmoser U. 2013. Optimizing the size of the area surveyed for monitoring a Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx Linnaeus, 1758) population in the Swiss Alps by means of photographic capture-recapture. Integrative Zoology 8, 232-243.