Open AccessMonitoring Spatial and Seasonal Abundance of Indian Wild Ass (<i>Equus hemionus khur</i>) in Little Rann of Kutch Landscape, Western India
Author(s) -
Bidyut B. Barman,
Nita Shah,
Ashish Prasad,
A. K. Sanyal,
Vishal Chavda,
Qamar Qureshi
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of ecophysiology and occupational health/journal of ecophysiology and occupational health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 0974-0805
pISSN - 0972-4397
DOI - 10.18311/jeoh/2021/29033
Subject(s) - transect , geography , equus , population , abundance (ecology) , distance sampling , forestry , aerial survey , physical geography , habitat , ecology , cartography , biology , demography , sociology
The present study was conducted in Little Rann of Kutch (LRK) landscape in the Gujarat state of western India. It is a vast saline mud-plain holding the last remaining source population of Indian wild ass ( Equus hemionus khur ) or Khur after its population from other parts of the world got locally extinct. Khur occupy fringes of the Sanctuary and bets (islands) having grassland and scrubland vegetation. Taking adequate and effective management decisions and monitoring would be difficult in absence of reliable information. Line transect sampling will ensure robust population estimate of Khur. By bridging this gap with adequate information, meaningful and effective management decisions can be taken. We have conducted line transect surveys using foot and vehicle transect following distance sampling in southern fringe as intensive study site. The density estimates (No./km 2 ± SE) in southern fringe of LRK during two surveys were 5.76 ± 0.91, 6.08 ± 1.39 in winter and 2.29 ± 0.55 in summer from foot transect and 5.2 ± 0.73, 6.72 ± 1.12 in winter and 4.29 ± 0.87 in summer from vehicle transect, respectively. The study will help managers to evaluate long term monitoring method and make adaptive management decisions.