662 R. Pal et al.
TABLE 3 Description of the variables used in the generalized linear mixed models. Variables Name of variable Type
Range
Response Species captures Offset
Random effect
Trap effort Site
Fixed effect Human photo-capture
Livestock photo-capture
Count Scale
Scale Scale
Scale
Musk deer (1–47), Himalayan brown bear (1–6), snow leopard (1–28), common leopard (1–18), Asiatic black bear (1–16), sambar (1–67) 10–273 days (summer & winter combined)
Categorical Musk deer (47), Himalayan brown bear (49), snow leopard (51), common leopard (80), Asiatic black bear (73), sambar (73) 1–2,356 captures/100 days
Dog photo-capture Scale Elevation
Ruggedness Slope
Season
Scale Scale
1–1,063 captures/100 days 1–88 captures/100 days
Musk deer (2,800–4,000 m), Himalayan brown bear (2,800–4,400 m), snow leopard (3,200–5,000 m), common leopard (500–3,600 m), Asiatic black bear (500–3,500 m), sambar (500–3,500 m) 5.5–84.2 0.6–4.9
Categorical Summer, winter
be those with ΔAICc values ,2 units (Arnold, 2010). To examine any multicollinearity between predictor variables, we performed Pearson correlation tests, correlated variables (Pearson correlation coefficient .0.7) were not used in the same model. We decided on the suitable habitat for each species based on the elevation range and habitats in which camera traps recorded them (Table 2). For example,we used greater Himalayan and Trans-Himalayan habitats (3,200– 5,000 m) for snow leopard analysis, and temperate, sub- alpine and alpine habitats (2,800–4,000 m) for musk deer. Based on the time stamp on the camera trap images, we assessed temporal overlap between each threatened species and occurrence of human disturbance (records of people, livestock and domestic dogs) using the kernel density method (Ridout & Linkie, 2009)in R.
Results
The total number of camera-trap days was 33,057, with a mean of 108 trap days per camera. We recorded 39 species of mammals belonging to 13 families in five orders (Table 2). Carnivora was the most diverse order with 18 species, fol- lowed by Artiodactyla (9), Rodentia (5), Lagomorpha (4) and Primates (3). Of the 39 species recorded, nine are cate- gorized as threatened (four Vulnerable, five Endangered), four as Near Threatened and 26 as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (IUCN, 2020). We recorded five mammal species (Fig. 1) that were hith-
erto not known to be present inUttarakhand State: the argali Ovis ammon, Tibetan sand fox Vulpes ferrilata, woolly hare Lepus oiostolus, Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx, and woolly flying squirrel Eupetaurus cinereus. Argali, sand fox, woolly hare and lynx were recorded in the Trans-Himalayan landscape (4,000–5,200 m) of Nelong valley in Gangotri National
Park, which is a typical cold desert characterized by rock fields with sparse vegetation (Fig. 1). The woolly hare was captured widely (14 locations) and regularly (156 captures) throughout the survey, whereas the sand fox was captured on only three occasions, Argali on four occasions and Eurasian lynx on one occasion. The woolly flying squirrel was captured once, during the sampling period in temperate habitat at 2,700 m in Harsil valley (Pal et al., 2018a). Apart from these new records, we also captured photographs of the dhole Cuon alpinus and tiger Panthera tigris. A tiger was photographed only once, in February 2017 (at 2,910 m altitude) in subalpine broadleaved forest dominated by Quercus semecarpifolia. Six threatened specieswere captured regularly throughout
the survey: the Himalayan brown bear, Asiatic black bear, snow leopard, common leopard, musk deer and sambar. Records of Himalayan brown bears (n = 30, 18 locations), musk deer (n = 43, 26 locations) and snow leopards (n = 408, 66 locations) were confined to elevations . 2,500 min the Trans-Himalayan areas, alpine and subalpine forests. Asiatic black bears (n = 69, 31 locations) were distributed throughout the study area except for dry Trans-Himalayan scrub, and sambar (n = 863, 64 locations) were captured in all forest types up to 3,600 m. The common leopard was themost fre- quently captured(n = 204, 62 locations) large carnivore, inthe subtropical forest and temperate habitats (500–3,600 m). Seasonal comparison of capture rates of people, livestock
and dogs showed that during the winter there was a com- paratively low presence of people and associated activities in both protected and non-protected areas. During sum- mer, photo-capture rates of people inside the National Park (mean 79.4 ± SE 18.9) were lower than outside (122.2 ± 39.5) but captures of livestock (46.6 ± 11.2) and dogs (11.1 ± 2.2) were higher inside the National Park than outside (live- stock 32.9 ± 12.7, dogs 3.1 ± 1.2). Anthropogenic disturbance
Oryx, 2021, 55(5), 657–667 © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605319001352
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