Addressing the Wallacean Shortfall for small vertebrates in the Western Ghats across space

Transcription

1 Addressing the Wallacean Shortfall for small vertebrates in the Western Ghats across space S.P.Vijayakumar Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore

2 Why this project? PROBLEM: Wallacean Shortfall For majority of the known taxa there is inadequate data on their geographical distribution (global, regional and local) and is plagued with huge gaps. (Small mammals, nocturnal birds, invertebrates) Data crucial for Conservation assessment (IUCN) Reserve design to create a comprehensive distributional database for amphibians (frogs) and reptiles (lizards and snakes) through primary field surveys and distribution modeling

3 Strategic Direction from Ecosystem Profile Strategic direction No 2: Improve the conservation of globally threatened species through systematic conservation planning and action. PROFILE DOC: 52 species of frogs globally threatened Lizards and snakes: Status uncertain (Assessed recently. Results awaited!)

4 Why frogs, lizards and snakes of the Western Ghats? - Many species known from single locality that are based on historic records. - Presence of many potential new species.

5 Why frogs, lizards and snakes of the Western Ghats? Highest percentage of endemism among vertebrates : >80% of known species (known ~140 sp: frogs) (~ 85 lizards, ~100 snakes) 55 65% endemic 100% endemism (many local endemics) among many genera.

6 How are we addressing the problem? Wallacean Shortfall

7 PHASE III a & b PHASE I PHASE II (2012 SEP 2012) + ( MAR) ( JUN) (OCT MAR 2013) Project design FIELD FIELD + DATABASE FIELD + DATABASE OUTPUT 1. ATLAS (Frogs, Lizards and Snakes) Distribution modeling 2. IFA, ILA and ISA 3. Online database 4. Field manuals

8 Our sampling strategy Large scale Survey GRID BASED Dry Forest, Wet Evergreen Forests and Montane Shola Forests and Grasslands in each hill range Within and Outside PA s Day and night-time sampling (call recordings - during monsoon) Lab work for spatial analyses. RISKS AND PROBLEMS: Data collection at times is dictated by other factors such as elephants and logistics! Surveying remote areas effort and time intensive.

9 DRY FORESTS WET EVERGREEN MONTANE SHOLA GRASSLAND

10 TYPES OF DATA - Geographic coordinates (point data) Crossed thousand (>1000 Phase 1) - Locating populations (Agamids, Gekkonids, Microhylids, Bufonids, Rhacophorids, Vine snakes, Pit Vipers etc. ) - Species Images - - Species calls (Most for the first time) - Habitat and relative abundance (VES based, mainly for lizards) - Museum and online database

11 An equally important problem! PROBLEM 2: Linnean shortfall Refers to the presence of a large number of new species in the tropics and also the poor knowledge of taxonomy of many of the known species

12 Sister problem! Linnean shortfall 1. GENES???? 2. CALLS

13 Species distribution maps survey based and model based (Atlas) Expected outputs Maps of important frogs, lizards and snake areas Voucher specimens archived in the CES museum. Importanct source for future researchers. Visual and Audio based field manuals for stake holders Dynamic online species distribution database with an option for regular updates with stake holder participation.

14 PROJECT Director: Dr. Kartik Shanker (IISc) Project team PROJECT researchers: Saunak Pal (Lizards and Snakes) Mrugank Prabhu (Frogs) Ashok Kumar Mallick (Snakes) Varun Torsekar (Frogs) Anirudh D. Roy (Lizards Skinks) Ishan Agarwal (Lizards Geckoes) S.P. Vijayakumar (Tree Frogs) Mayavan (Field Assistance) PROJECT consultants and collaborators: Sanjay Molur (ZOO/WILD) Dr. SD Biju (Univ. of Delhi) Romulus Whittaker (Snakes) Ashok Captain (Snakes) Varad Giri (Northern WG &Lizards) Dr. Aaron Bauer (Lizards) Dr. Indraneil Das (Reptiles) Xavier (Canopy climbing) POTENTIAL contributors: CENTRAL WESTERN GHATS : Gowri Shanker (Snakes), Gururaja KV (Frogs), SOUTHERN WESTERN GHATS: K Dinesh (Nyctibatrcahus ZSI), Albert Rajendran (Uropletids and Reptiles), Bhupathy (Reptiles Nilgiris, HighWavies), NM Ishwar (Reptiles), Anil Zachriah (Vet) (Frogs Kerala), Nixon (Montane reptiles), Srinivas (High Wavies)

15 PROJECT SUPPORT CEPF INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE (IISc) ATREE Kerala Forest Department Karnataka Forest Department Tamil Nadu Forest Department Maharashtra Forest Department FIELD AND EXPEDITION Members Thank you