Prediction of Kashmir markhor habitat suitability in Chitral Gol National Park, Pakistan

Arshad, Masood; Qamer, Faisal Mueen; Saleem, Rashid; Malik, Riffat Naseem

doi:10.1080/14888386.2012.684206

Cited by 14 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…However, grasses in certain areas with less snow depth and also around the cliffs are available to markhor but not in a sufficient quantity due to over grazing by livestock of herders during the previous autumn season. The negative impact of livestock grazing on availability of forage particularly in winter was also speculated by many authors (14,55,56) . Some herbs although available in markhor habitat during winter but did not appear in fecal samples.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

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Dietary ecology of Markhor(Capra falconeri cashmiriensis) in winter range of Kazinag National Park, Kashmir, J&K, India

Bashir¹,

Fazili²,

Ahmad³

et al. 2020

IJST

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Background/Objective: Understanding winter diet composition of wild ungulates in temperate habitats is of paramount importance for devising conservation measures. The winter diet composition of Markhor (Capra falconeri), one of the least studied ungulate species, was assessed in Kazinag National Park (KNP) of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Methods: Reference slides of 15 available plant species, through micro-histological technique were prepared. Tests like Diet Selection Values (DSV), Ivlev's Electivity Index (IEI) and Chi-square tests were applied to study the selection and preference of dietary items. Findings: 80 fecal samples of markhor were analyzed in winter seasons of 2017 & 2018, and compared with reference slides to evaluate the winter diet. Fifteen (15) plant species belonging to 7 families were identified in the diet. Use of Ivlev's Electivity Index (IEI), revealed that, shrubs were strongly preferred during this season, besides one graminoid species (Poa pratensis). Among the most preferred species are, Poa pratensis (DSV=6.17) followed by Prunus tomentosa (DSV=2.42), Indigofera heterantha (DSV=2.23), Lonicera spp. (DSV=1.66) and Euonymus hamiltonianus (DSV=1.63). Chi-square goodness of fit test showed that markhor did not feed on all plant species uniformly (p< 0.05). Novelty: Our findings infer that, markhor shows feeding flexibility to adapt to change in forage availability. We recommend that plant species which are the major components of diet of markhor during resource-lean winter be conserved and propagated on priority.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…Kashmir markhor also called flare horned markhor (Capra falconeri cashmiriensis), a true goat is distributed from Afghanistan to Pakistan, PoK and Jammu & Kashmir (14) . In India, markhor exists in Kashmir valley only (15)(16)(17) , which is among the primary areas for the Pirpanjal markhor in India.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dietary ecology of Markhor(Capra falconeri cashmiriensis) in winter range of Kazinag National Park, Kashmir, J&K, India

Bashir¹,

Fazili²,

Ahmad³

et al. 2020

IJST

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“…Based on watersheds, each central valley in the study area was subdivided into smaller sub-valleys for coverage and intensive survey. High-resolution maps (A3-sized base maps of ASTER satellite data of scale 1:50,000) were developed for each study site to facilitate data collection and navigation in the field [34,40]. A team of two observers walked on a line transect of variable length in each valley.…”

Section: Species Presence Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Pakistan, most of the studies conducted on mountain ungulates are based on population dynamics for one specific reason-to monitor community-based trophy-hunting programs [34]. Though the inception of trophy hunting programs has helped in reviving the populations of ungulates, involving the local communities safeguarding the species by putting a stop to poaching, yet, many mountain ungulates of Pakistan are still listed as locally endangered [34]. It is believed that habitat destruction has played a significant role in the extinction of these ungulates from most of their ancestral ranges in Pakistan [13,35,36].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Though the inception of trophy hunting programs has helped in reviving the populations of ungulates, involving the local communities safeguarding the species by putting a stop to poaching, yet, many mountain ungulates of Pakistan are still listed as locally endangered [34]. It is believed that habitat destruction has played a significant role in the extinction of these ungulates from most of their ancestral ranges in Pakistan [13,35,36]. Information about the suitable habitats of mountain ungulates in Pakistan is scarce.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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In Pursuit of New Spaces for Threatened Mammals: Assessing Habitat Suitability for Kashmir Markhor (Capra falconeri cashmeriensis) in the Hindukush Range

et al. 2022

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Natural wild habitats are either destroyed or shrunk due to human interventions. Therefore, habitat evaluation is crucial for managing wildlife populations and designing robust conservation strategies. Species presence data and geographic information system (GIS) coupled with ground-breaking powerful statistical techniques have made such assessments possible. We used maximum entropy modeling (MaxEnt) to identify suitable habitats for Kashmir markhor (Capra falconeri cashmeriensis) in Malakand Division, Pakistan. MaxEnt was applied to 169 markhor sighting points and topographical and current bioclimatic variables. Results showed that the accuracy of the MaxEnt model was good (AUC = 0.889). Of the total area studied (8407.09 km2), 22.35% (1878.75 km2) was highly suitable and 32.63% (2743.53 km2) was moderately suitable for markhor. Protected areas including Chitral Gol National Park (CGNP), Tooshi-Sasha Conservancy (TSC), and Gehrait-Golain Conservancy (GGC) and their buffers were included in highly suitable habitats. MaxEnt also predicted highly suitable habitats in Kumrat and Kalam valleys. We believe that moderately suitable habitats identified in Jinjeret, Ursoon, Birir valley, and Bumborait valley have the potential to host markhor populations. Based on the results obtained in the current study, we strongly recommend expanding the current protected areas (PAs) network in the study area and strengthening it by inclusive conservation management with local communities.

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A new threshold selection method for species distribution models with presence‐only data: Extracting the mutation point of the P/E curve by threshold regression

Yu,

Dai,

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Selecting thresholds to convert continuous predictions of species distribution models proves critical for many real‐world applications and model assessments. Prevalent threshold selection methods for presence‐only data require unproven pseudo‐absence data or subjective researchers' decisions. This study proposes a new method, Boyce‐Threshold Quantile Regression (BTQR), to determine thresholds objectively without pseudo‐absence data. We summarize that the mutation point is a typical shape feature of the predicted‐to‐expected (P/E) curve after reviewing relevant articles. Analysis based on source‐sink theory suggests that this mutation point may represent a transition in habitat types and serve as an appropriate threshold. Threshold regression is introduced to accurately locate the mutation point. To validate the effectiveness of BTQR, we used four virtual species of varying prevalence and a real species with reliable distribution data. Six different species distribution models were employed to generate continuous suitability predictions. BTQR and nine other traditional methods transformed these continuous outputs into binary results. Comparative experiments show that BTQR has advantages in terms of accuracy, applicability, and consistency over the existing methods.

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Prediction of Kashmir markhor habitat suitability in Chitral Gol National Park, Pakistan

Cited by 14 publications

References 24 publications

Dietary ecology of Markhor(Capra falconeri cashmiriensis) in winter range of Kazinag National Park, Kashmir, J&K, India

Dietary ecology of Markhor(Capra falconeri cashmiriensis) in winter range of Kazinag National Park, Kashmir, J&K, India

In Pursuit of New Spaces for Threatened Mammals: Assessing Habitat Suitability for Kashmir Markhor (Capra falconeri cashmeriensis) in the Hindukush Range

A new threshold selection method for species distribution models with presence‐only data: Extracting the mutation point of the P/E curve by threshold regression

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