Identifying Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus) conservation areas in Lahaul Valley, Himachal Pradesh

Sharief, Amira; Joshi, Bheem Dutt; Kumar, Vineet; Kumar, Manish; Dutta, Ritam; Sharma, Chandra Maya; Thapa, Avantika; Rana, Hemant Singh; Mukherjee, Tanoy; Singh, Ashutosh; Thakur, Mukesh; Sharma, Lalit Kumar; Chandra, Kailash

doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2019.e00900

Cited by 17 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Our data represent an important source of Himalayan brown bear occurrence records in India, as no formal field survey has been previously attempted at this scope for this subspecies. The last assessment of the species across the whole distribution range in India was based on questionnaire survey (Sathyakumar, 2006 a ), and most of the studies were conducted in Kugti WLS and Lahul valley (Sharief et al ., 2020).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We selected a priori 40 variables that are potentially related to habitat selection of brown bears in India based on published literature demonstrating the importance of these variables on brown bear occurrences (e.g. Clevenger et al ., 1997; Koreň et al ., 2011; Nawaz, Martin & Swenson, 2014; Mateo‐Sanchez et al ., 2014 a ; Su et al ., 2018; Sharief et al ., 2020). These variables represent climate, landscape composition, topography and anthropogenic influences in the region.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, in India and other parts of Asian highlands, the ecological information on brown bears is limited. The few existing studies are on phylogeography, feeding ecology, species distribution modelling, human‐bear conflicts and daily activity patterns (Sathyakumar, 2002, 2006 a , b ; Mohanta & Chauhan, 2011; Lan et al ., 2017; Su et al ., 2018; Sharief et al ., 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Projected climate change threatens Himalayan brown bear habitat more than human land use

Dar

Singh

Wan

et al. 2021

Animal Conservation

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Climate change and land use change jointly are the largest drivers of population declines, range contraction and extinction for many species across the globe. Wide‐ranging and large‐bodied species are especially vulnerable to habitat loss and fragmentation due to their typically low population densities, reflecting their need for extensive and connected habitats. We used the multi‐scale Random Forests machine learning algorithm to identify factors driving the habitat selection and future changes in habitat of Himalayan brown bear, an iconic wide‐ranging and large‐bodied species of high conservation interest, across a range of spatial scales. Habitat selection of brown bears was scale‐dependent, with most variables selected at broad scales. Climatic variables such as maximum temperature of coldest month, minimum temperature of warmest month and the potential evapotranspiration of wettest quarter strongly influenced habitat selection of brown bears. Future projections indicate a strong difference between the high and low emission scenarios. Alarmingly, our model suggests that high emission scenarios, with or without land use change, may result in a decline of brown bear habitat of >90% by the end of the century. In contrast, low emission scenarios are projected to reduce brown bear habitat by <23%, with much of the species range shifting to higher elevations. This study provides an integrative understanding of scale‐dependent variables in brown bear habitat selection, providing critical information for prioritizing areas for habitat management and conservation. Most importantly, our future projections imply that traditional conservation efforts, such as in situ conservation, will not be sufficient to protect the species without climate change mitigation. The incorporation of climate change mitigation and adaptation in conservation strategies will be one of the most pressing priorities in biodiversity conservation in this region.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Projected climate change threatens Himalayan brown bear habitat more than human land use

Dar

Singh

Wan

et al. 2021

Animal Conservation

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“…Spearing (2002) reported that three Brown Bears were killed in Zanskar in retaliation during 1998-2001; however, we did not register any such case during the study duration. Retributory killing of Brown Bear have been reported from the neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh, India in which the migratory shepherds (gaddis) often kill Brown Bears to reduce livestock predation (Sathyakumar 2001;Rathore & Chauhan 2007;Sharief et al 2020). Rathore (2008) reported that livestock depredation by Brown Bear ranged from 2.2 % to 12.9 % livestock/annum in Kugti Wildlife Sanctuary, Himachal Pradesh, India.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In India, Brown Bears are threatened due to poaching for bear parts and retaliatory killings to reduce livestock depredation (Sathyakumar 2001(Sathyakumar , 2006 and has significantly contributed to the local declines of the populations of Brown Bear and other large carnivores such as Snow Leopard Panthera uncia and Wolf Canis lupus in the Himalayan region (Jackson et al 2001;Spearing 2002;Maheshwari et al 2010;Can et al 2014;Maheshwari 2016;Maheshwari 2018;Maheshwari & Sathyakumar 2019Dai et al 2020). Sound scientific research is necessary for making management decisions related to Brown Bears and for sustainable management of their populations (Servheen 1990;Sharief et al 2020); however, there has not yet been detailed field research on the Himalayan Brown Bears in Ladakh.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of changes over a decade in the patterns of livestock depredation by the Himalayan Brown Bear in Ladakh, India

Maheshwari¹,

Kumar²,

Sathyakumar³

2021

J. Threat. Taxa

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Conflicts between large carnivores and shepherds constitute a major socio-ecological concern across the Himalaya and affects community attitudes and tolerance toward carnivores. We assessed the extent and intensity of Human-Brown Bear interactions in the same villages of Zanskar and Suru Valleys, Ladakh, in the Indian Trans-Himalaya during two time periods (2001–2003 and 2009–2012) through field and questionnaire surveys. During 2001–2003, 180 families of 32 villages in Zanskar, and 232 families of 49 villages in Suru were interviewed, and during 2009–2012, 145 families of 23 villages in Zanskar and 115 families of 33 villages in Suru were interviewed. Overall, 475 (119/year) and 454 (151/year) heads of livestock were reportedly killed by Brown Bears. The surveys of 2009–2012 revealed that livestock predation in ‘doksas’ (summer grazing camps) was higher (68 %) compared to the surveys carried out during 2001–2003 (42 %). The increased livestock depredation in doksas might be due to the extended stay and use of pastures by the local communities during spring and autumn. Damage to property in the form of breaking open of doors and windows by Brown Bear were reported during both the surveys. Economic losses and declining tolerance of people may trigger retaliatory killings of Brown Bear in Ladakh. We recommend compensation for livestock loss and improved husbandry practices in the conflict zones for bear-human coexistence.

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Living with a large predator: Assessing the root causes of Human–brown bear conflict and their spatial patterns in Lahaul valley, Himachal Pradesh

Kumar

Sharief

Dutta

et al. 2022

Ecology and Evolution

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Brown bear‐mediated conflicts have caused immense economic loss to the local people living across the distribution range. In India, limited knowledge is available on the Himalayan brown bear (HBB), making human–brown bear conflict (HBC) mitigation more challenging. In this study, we studied HBC in the Lahaul valley using a semi‐structured questionnaire survey by interviewing 398 respondents from 37 villages. About 64.8% of respondents reported conflict in two major groups—crop damage (30.6%) and livestock depredations (6.2%), while 28% reported both. Conflict incidences were relatively high in summer and frequently occurred in areas closer to the forest (<500 m) and between the elevations range of 2700 m to 3000 m above sea level (asl). The dependency of locals on forest resources (70%) for their livelihood makes them vulnerable to HBC. The “upper lower” class respondents were most impacted among the various socioeconomic classes. Two of the four clusters were identified as HBC hot spots in Lahaul valley using SaTscan analysis. We also obtained high HBC in cluster II with a 14.35 km radius. We found that anthropogenic food provisioning for HBB, livestock grazing in bear habitats, and poor knowledge of animal behavior among the communities were the major causes of HBC. We suggest horticulture crop waste management, controlled and supervised grazing, ecotourism, the constitution of community watch groups, and others to mitigate HBC. We also recommend notifying a few HBB abundant sites in the valley as protected areas for the long‐term viability of the HBB in the landscape.

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Identifying Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus) conservation areas in Lahaul Valley, Himachal Pradesh

Cited by 17 publications

References 27 publications

Projected climate change threatens Himalayan brown bear habitat more than human land use

Projected climate change threatens Himalayan brown bear habitat more than human land use

Assessment of changes over a decade in the patterns of livestock depredation by the Himalayan Brown Bear in Ladakh, India

Living with a large predator: Assessing the root causes of Human–brown bear conflict and their spatial patterns in Lahaul valley, Himachal Pradesh

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