Indian Hotspots : Vertebrate Faunal Diversity, Conservation and Management, Volume 1

400 Pages·2018·15.51 MB·English

by  Chandrakasan Sivaperuman

Chandrakasan Sivaperuman 
Krishnamoorthy Venkataraman E ditors
Indian
Hotspots
Vertebrate Faunal Diversity,
Conservation and Management
Volume 1
Indian Hotspots
Chandrakasan Sivaperuman
Krishnamoorthy Venkataraman
Editors
Indian Hotspots
Vertebrate Faunal Diversity,
Conservation and Management
Volume 1
Editors
Chandrakasan Sivaperuman Krishnamoorthy Venkataraman
Zoological Survey of India, Andaman & National Centre for Sustainable Coastal
Nicobar Regional Centre Management
Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Islands Anna University Campus
India Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
ISBN 978-981-10-6604-7 ISBN 978-981-10-6605-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6605-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017964256
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of
the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,
broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information
storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors
or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims
in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Printed on acid-free paper
This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature
The registered company is Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721,
Singapore
Foreword
India is 1 of the 17 mega-biodiversity countries of the world. Out of a total of 35
biodiversity hotspots, India has 4, namely, the Eastern Himalaya, the Indo-Burma,
the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka and Sundaland. There are ten biogeographical
zones in India; these are Trans-Himalayan, Himalayan, desert, semiarid, Western
Ghats, Deccan Plateau, Gangetic Plain, coasts, north-east and islands. The varied
edaphic, climatic and topographic conditions and years of geological stability have
resulted in a wide range of ecosystems and habitats such as forests, grasslands,
wetlands, deserts and coastal and marine ecosystem. The location of India is at the
confluence of three major biogeographic realms, namely, the Indo-Malayan, the
Eurasian and the Afro-tropical, which enabled it to have an assemblage of diverse
elements from all these regions.
The tropical forest ecosystem is one of the most diverse and rich in biological
diversity on Earth. India has a diverse range of forests from the rainforest of Kerala
in the south to the alpine pastures of Ladakh in the north, from the deserts of
Rajasthan in the west to the evergreen forests in the north-east. The forests in India
are spread over an area of 692,027 km2, covering 23.39% of the geographical area
of the country. The tropical rainforests support the greatest diversity of living organ-
isms on Earth. India ranks tenth in the world and fourth in Asia in plant diversity,
and 11% of the world flora is reported from India.
The present book entitled Indian Hotspots: Vertebrate Faunal Diversity,
Conservation and Management (Volumes I and II) embodies 39 research chapters
of high standard grouped into vertebrate faunal diversity, conservation and man-
agement. This is a welcome step on the conservation of vertebrate faunal communi-
ties in the tropical forest ecosystem especially in Indian hotspots. I congratulate the
editors Dr. C. Sivaperuman and Dr. K. Venkataraman for their earnest effort to bring
this volume with a treasure of knowledge to the public domain.
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Amita Prasad
Government of India
New Delhi, India
29 August 2017
v
Preface
The tropical forest ecosystems are one of the most diverse and rich in biological
diversity on Earth. The tropical rainforests of India are found in the Western Ghats,
north-eastern India and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The forests in India are
spread over an area of 692,027 km2, covering 21.05% of the geographical area of
the country. The location of India is at the confluence of three major biogeographic
realms, namely, the Indo-Malayan, the Eurasian and the Afro-tropical, which
enabled it to have an assemblage of diverse elements from all these regions. The
country is exceptionally rich in biodiversity and considered as 1 of the 17 mega-
biodiversity countries in the world. Of the 35 biodiversity hotspots identified in the
world, India has 4 biodiversity hotspots, i.e. the Eastern Himalaya, Indo-Burma,
Western Ghats and Sri Lanka and Sundaland, with unique assemblage of plant and
animal communities. There are ten biogeographical zones in India; these are Trans-
Himalayan, Himalayan, desert, semiarid, Western Ghats, Deccan Plateau, Gangetic
Plain, coasts, north-east and islands. The varied edaphic, climatic and topographic
conditions and years of geological stability have resulted in a wide range of ecosys-
tems and habitats such as forests, grasslands, wetlands, deserts and coastal and
marine ecosystem.
India occupies about 2.4% of the world’s land area and 4% of freshwater and
supports about 8% of the world’s total species. This region is home to a rich endemic
assemblage of plants, birds, reptiles and amphibians, as well as important popula-
tions of Asian elephants, Indian tigers and the endangered lion-tailed macaque.
India ranks tenth in the world and fourth in Asia in plant diversity and tenth in the
number of endemic species of higher vertebrates in the world. In terms of species
richness, India ranks eighth in mammals, ninth in birds, fifth in reptiles and fifteenth
in Amphibians. Eleven percent of the world flora is reported from India.
This volume is a culmination of detailed studies carried out by reputed research-
ers working in the field of biodiversity conservation. This book contains a collection
of different chapters, and concerted effort has been made by the professionals in
their respective group. This book is divided into two volumes and covers different
faunal communities from the Indian biodiversity hotspots, e.g. biodiversity in Indian
hotspots; endemic, endangered and threatened vertebrates; chiropteran fauna; her-
petofaunal diversity; group size composition of gaur; grizzled giant squirrel; Nilgiri
tahr; elephant from the Western Ghats; freshwater fishes; birds; mammals of the
vii
viii Preface
Andaman and Nicobar Islands; avifauna of the north-west Himalaya; bat fauna of
the north-east and Western Ghats; and golden langur from the north-east.
This book depicts unique information on vertebrate faunal diversity of Indian
hotspots. We sincerely hope that this book will be of great help to the researchers
and field scientists in the area of biodiversity conservation not only in India but also
in neighbouring countries.
Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Island, India Chandrakasan Sivaperuman
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Krishnamoorthy Venkataraman
Acknowledgements
We express our heartfelt gratitude to all those who helped in different ways to com-
plete this work. Our sincere thanks to the officials of the Ministry of Environment,
Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, for their support and encourage-
ment. We also thank all the authors who have contributed the various articles for this
book.
ix
Contents
1 Biodiversity Hotspots in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Krishnamoorthy Venkataraman and Chandrakasan Sivaperuman
2 Endemic, Endangered and Threatened Vertebrates
in the Indian Hotspots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Chandrakasan Sivaperuman, Krishnamoorthy Venkataraman, and
Anil Kumar
3 Diversity and Conservation of Chiropteran Fauna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Vadamalai Elangovan, Virendra Mathur, Mukesh Kumar,
and Yuvana Satya Priya
4 An Overview of the Vertebrate Diversity of Sriharikota
(India’s Spaceport), Southern India: Conservation Perspectives . . . . 89
J. Patrick David, Ranjit Manakadan, and S. Sivakumar
5 Group Size and Composition of Gaur (Bos gaurus gaurus)
in Relation to Environmental Factors in Parambikulam
Wildlife Sanctuary, Western Ghats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
S. M. Vairavel and P. S. Easa
6 Diversity, Distribution and Conservation of Freshwater
Fishes in Andaman and Nicobar Islands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
P. T. Rajan, P. Vijay, and Jayasimhan Praveenraj
7 Asian Openbill Stork (Anastomus oscitans), Not a “Nutcracker”:
A Study from Kole Wetlands of Thrissur, Kerala . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
P. Greeshma and E. A. Jayson
8 A vifauna of North West Himalaya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Anil Kumar
9 C hiropteran Faunal Diversity in the Tropical Forest
Ecosystem of Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Juliet Vanitharani
xi
xii Contents
10 Diversity of Bat Fauna in States of Northeast and Around
Western Ghats of India with Reference to Its Conservation . . . . . . . . 209
Vishakha Korad
11 Status and Distribution of Grizzled Giant Squirrel
in Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala, India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
A. Veeramani, M. Balasubramanian, Sanjayankumar,
and John Mathew
12 Habitat Use of Nilgiri Tahr Nilgiritragus hylocrius
in Western Ghats, India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
J. Pandiyan, M. Sandeep, and A. Desai
13 Biology, Ecology, and Conservation of Golden Langur,
Trachypithecus geei . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Debahutee Roy and Rajarathinavelu Nagarajan
14 Why Are Lion-Tailed Macaques Rare? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
R. Krishnamani and Ajith Kumar
15 Ranging and Spacing Behaviour of Asian Elephant
(Elephas maximus Linnaeus) in the Tropical Forests
of Southern India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Nagarajan Baskaran, R. Kanakasabai, and Ajay A. Desai
16 The Role of Elephants in the Forest Ecosystem
and Its Conservation Problems in Southern India. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
Balasundaram Ramakrishnan, M. Ilakkia, S. Karthick,
and A. Veeramani
17 I nfluence of Ranging and Hierarchy on the Habitat
Use Pattern by Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus)
in the Tropical Forests of Southern India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
Nagarajan Baskaran, R. Kanakasabai, and Ajay A. Desai
18 H uman-Elephant (Elephas maximus) Conflict
in Southern India: Spatial Movement Pattern of Asian
Elephants Outside Reserved Forests of Coimbatore
Forest Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Kalyanasundaram Ramkumar, Balasundaram Ramakrishnan,
and R. Saravanamuthu
19 S tatistical Techniques for Estimating the Abundance
of Asiatic Elephants Based on Dung Piles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
M. Sivaram, K. K. Ramachandran, E. A. Jayson, and P. V. Nair