Habitat niche relationships within an assemblage of ungulates in Bardia National Park,Nepal |
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Affiliation: | 1. Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan;2. Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan;1. Forest & Nature Lab, Department of Forest and Water Management, Ghent University, Geraardsbergsesteenweg 267, 9090 Gontrode, Belgium;2. Department of Biosciences and Food Sciences, University College Ghent, Valentin Vaerwyckweg 1, 9000 Ghent, Belgium;3. Department of Applied Biosciences, Ghent University, Valentin Vaerwyckweg 1, 9000 Ghent, Belgium;1. College of Nature Reserve, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China;2. Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation, Taizhou University, Taizhou 318000, China;3. Institute of Ecology, Taizhou University, Taizhou 318000, China |
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Abstract: | Species co-exist in their individual niches by partitioning resources. The main prey of the big predators – wild boar, chital, and sambar are sympatric in tropical south-Asia. In order to obtain a better understanding of their habitat use and habitat niche relationships, we used an indirect sign (faecal pellets and rooting by wild boar) survey along line transects in Bardia National Park. Ground cover, in particular grass cover for wild boar and chital, and shrub cover for chital and sambar positively affected the occurrence of ungulate signs. We found a niche differentiation between wild boar, which preferred hill sal forest and grassland, and chital and sambar, which avoided hill sal forest and grassland. Habitat niche overlap between chital and sambar in open habitat was clearly evident during the dry season. It is suggested that the fine grained habitat mosaics in space are the underlying causes of the coexistence of the ungulates studied. Therefore, focus on maintaining the habitat mosaic throughout the regions of the species’ distribution may prove successful for effective conservation management. |
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Keywords: | Chital Lowland Nepal Niche partitioning Sambar Ungulates Wild boar |
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