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Wetland ecosystem services exceed those provided by terrestrial ecosystems and their 'wise use' has implications for achieving sustainable development goals. Yet we have lost almost 87% of wetlands since pre-industrial times with losses projected to be much higher by 2050 in developing economies, particularly in Asia. Little is known about how this loss impacts people's dependency at local scales in human-dominated landscapes. We identi ed 18 ecosystem services of Dankuni wetlands located in the Lower Gangetic Floodplains by analysing oral testimonies of wetland-dependent villagers. The ecosystem services include 12 provisioning services and two each of regulatory, cultural and supporting services. Farming and use of wetland products including molluscs, fuelwood, fodder, bre and sh was found to subsidize living costs and provide diverse livelihood options to local residents. Encroachment of wetlands by factories and blockage of its riverine connection was reportedly degrading the wetland's quality and eroding its ecosystem services since the last 20 years and especially since the last three years. In years of excessive and unseasonal rainfall such as during the study year, post-monsoon farming was severely impacted. We portray the human costs of wetland development which will affect vulnerable sections the most, especially landless widows and older residents. Respondents believed that it was possible to rejuvenate the wetland by restoring its riverine connections but stressed that local politicians had vested interests in supporting its degradation. We strongly assert the need to increase government accountability for protection of wetlands amidst a determined pursuit of development at the cost of sustainability.

Hunting strategies are key to carnivore survival (Krebs and Davies 2009;Kamil et al. 38 2012;Michalko and Pekar 2016). Fishing Cat's (Prionailurus viverrinus) persistence in the 39 'semi-aquatic niche ' (Kitchener et al. 2010) despite felids being terrestrial carnivores in general 40 (>95%) (Hunter 2019) suggests the evolution of a successful hunting strategy. Its morphological 41 adaptations further suggest selection for hunting in wetlands. What energy conserving strategies 42 did the Fishing Cat borrow from its family and how were these adapted to optimize energy 43 gained from hunting fish, its primary prey? We attempt to answer this by analyzing 197 video 44 footages collected opportunistically from a participatory science initiative conducted over 2.5 45 years. We found that the felid switches between stationary and active modes of searching for 46 prey depending on the depth of water and the corresponding loss of body heat/energy. For 47 example, diving in deeper waters requires the submergence of the upper portions of the body and 48 loss of more body heat/energy. Our analysis shows that the cat spent much of its time (~52%) 49 sitting and waiting for prey (fish) to come nearer and then took limited attempts to dive into 50 deeper water (2.78%). We suggest that this is a strategy to optimize the net energy gain. In 51 shallow waters where the cat could forage without submerging the upper body it adopted a 52 predominantly active mode of hunting (~96%) to flush out prey. Thus, prominent hunting 53 strategies in the small cat lineage like 'sit-and-wait' and 'active foraging' is adapted to hunt in 54 the water. We recorded a 60% hunting success in deeper waters but did not detect a successful 55 hunt in shallow waters due to the low sample size of data from shallow water hunting. The major 56 caveat in our study is the post-hoc analysis of opportunistically collected data as opposed to data 57 derived from a structured design with predefined objectives. With more sampling from various 58 seasons and landscapes, finer details can be explored which would have conservation 59 implications. For example, we would expect variations in 'attempts to hunt' during cold and 60 warm seasons because heat loss might be less of a challenge in the latter. Quantifying 'attempts 61 to hunt' and 'successful hunts' across seasons could help focus management interventions to 62 minimize negative interactions between fish cultivators and Fishing Cat. The strictly nocturnal 63 activity of fishing cat as demonstrated in our study could be a strategy taken by the cat to avoid 64 humans. Our approach of using participatory-science is relevant for conducting research on 65 mammal behavior in human dominated landscapes. 66 67

The fishing cat’s persistence in a ‘semi-aquatic niche’ suggests the evolution of a successful hunting strategy. We describe it for the first time by analysing 197 camera-trap video-clips, collected from a participatory-science initiative, within an ethogram framework. The cats spent ∼52% of the time sitting and waiting for prey (fishes) to come nearer and took limited attempts to hunt (3.89%) in deeper waters (in which the upper portions of the cat’s body were submerged), where its hunting success was found to be 42.86%. In shallow waters, it adopted a predominantly active mode of hunting (∼96%) to flush out prey.