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| deciduous forests |
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Deciduous forests, so called because the trees of these forests seasonally shed all their leaves, are among the most widely-represented forest types in India. They occur as sal-dominated forests in the bhabhar tract of the Himalayan foothill... |
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| List of projects under deciduous forests: |
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| 1. fostering eco-friendly plantations |
How can one extend the reach of conservation into landscapes outside protected areas? Conservationists around the world are now working to extend conservation to such landscapes, especially lands under productive agriculture and plantations, by linking production with the market for products certified as coming from farms that follow sustainable and ecologically-friendly practices. |
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| 2. nurturing nature appreciation |
Scattered fragments of tropical rainforest amidst vast monoculture plantations, a high density of people, and a host of endangered, endemic wildlife—this is the Valparai plateau of the Anamalai hills in Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot. Keeping in mind the fragile ecosystem, conflict between people and wildlife, and the need for broad-based conservation awareness, we spearheaded a conservation education programme, beginning in 2007. |
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| 3. monkey genetics |
This collaborative project, initiated in January 2006, has been exploring the molecular phylogeny of the sinica group of the genus Macaca, consisting of five species, in general and those of the bonnet macaque and the newly-discovered Arunachal macaque, in particular. |
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| 4. bonnet macaque communication |
One of our long-term interests has been to investigate the social and mechanical cognitive abilities of wild bonnet macaques. |
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| 5. studying wild bonnet macaques |
This long-term project, begun in 2000 and proposed to continue for twenty years, is investigating the demographic structure and ecology of a population of wild bonnet macaques in the Bandipur National Park – Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary. |
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| 6. of bonnets and rhesus macaques |
In continuation of our long-term research project on bonnet macaques, which has been investigating social relationships and social cognition in wild groups of this species, we have made significant progress in our exploration of two further problems in its social behaviour: (1) the temporal persistence of social relationships within troops and (2) the developmental patterns of infant-mother relationships. |
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| 7. of cows and aliens |
Wild herbivores appear to avoid areas where grazing is intense. While this could be an avoidance of the livestock themselves, it could also be an effect mediated through plants which both livestock and wild herbivores depend on for food. This study is aimed at determining whether the latter is true and to what extent. |
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| 8. animal contours |
For their livelihood, millions of people across India depend on natural resources sourced from wildlife habitats. Depending on the location, such resource use assumes forms such as livestock grazing, fuelwood gathering, collection of forest produce such as fruits, bark and leaves, as well as hunting. Over the last decade, we at NCF have pioneered a growing body of literature from across India examining how these forms of resource extraction affect wildlife and their habitats. These and other studies have mostly described how wildlife populations (i.e., their numbers) change in response to varying levels of resource use by humans. But, resource use by humans may affect, not only the numbers of wildlife species, but also their distribution over a given area. For instance, areas that are more intensively used by people, say for collection of firewood, may be avoided by wildlife. As a result, even where wildlife numbers may remain unchanged, the impact of humans could result in a significant redistribution of wildlife over space. |
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| 9. unlikely links |
Hangala, a dusty village of 5000 people and 3000 cattle, is on the periphery of Bandipur National Park. Traditionally, the villagers were agro-pastoral relying on rainfed mixed cropping for their subsistence. The economy was heavily dependent on the vagaries of rain and plagued by lossed due to crop-raiding elephants and wild pigs. Cattle, owned by the landed and grazed for grain by the landless, provided manure and served as draught animals. Looking at this village in the past, one could have thought that the outer world of global market economy was remote and hardly capable of touching the lives of the people. |
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| 10. fodder and the forest |
India is home to the world’s largest livestock population, estimated at 540 million. Over the last three decades, livestock populations have risen by 31% while the extent of permanent pastureland available for grazing has declined by 26%. Over two-thirds of India’s wildlife reserves are grazed by livestock, with recent studies showing that even within the reserves, livestock sometimes outnumber large wild herbivores. |
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| 11. being the biggest bovid |
Once plentiful in south-east Asia, gaur have significantly declined in numbers this century and are now confined to small scattered populations, primarily in India, and to a lesser degree in other neighboring south-east Asian countries. Today the gaur is classified as “Vulnerable”, but still remains a poorly studied animal. There have been many short-term studies of this species; however it has managed to elude a long-term study of its fundamental biology. It’s this very gap in our understanding that this study plans to address by studying the foraging, population and community ecology of the gaur. |
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| 12. going into gravy? |
Through the ages, hunting of wild animals by humans has caused the extinction of several species of wildlife. In India too, hunting has been recognised as a major factor in past declines of wildlife and has prompted the enactment of a strong legislation—the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Yet, hunting is, even today, of widespread occurrence. Despite the serious threat it poses to wildlife, its very existence is often denied, and there have been few attempts at to understand the impact of hunting on wildlife populations. |
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