ISSN 2348-313X (Print) International Journal of Life Sciences Research ISSN 2348-3148 (online) Vol. 10, Issue 4, pp: (47-56), Month: October - December 2022, Available at: www.researchpublish.com
SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODELING OF MUSK DEER USING REMOTE SENSING AND G.I.S, UTTARAKHAND Arushi Lohani1, Dr. Suneet Naithani2, Dr. G. Areendran3, Sunny Joshi4 1 2
School of environment and Natural Resources, Doon University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Email:
Assistant Professor, School of environment and Natural Resources, Doon University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand. 3
Director IGCMC, WWF-India, Delhi.
4
Project Coordinator, WWF-India, Delhi.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7335477
Published Date: 18-November-2022
Abstract: Musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster) is considered Endangered by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and is under Schedule-I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, because of its illicit hunting for musk as well as habitat loss. The present study aims to analyze the present distribution pattern of Musk Deer in the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand. Precipitation of the driest month (Bio14), mean temperature of warmest quarter (Bio10), annual mean temperature (Bio1) and land use land cover were the major contributing variables to the model with area under Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve being 0.924. Using the Global Climate Models (GCM) MaxEnt and MIROC6, we projected the distribution of the endangered Musk Deer in the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand for the years 2021-2040, 2041-2060, 2061-2080, and 2081-2100. Future climate change will either widen, narrow, or shift the climatic niche of many species, which may cause those species' geographic ranges to change. Overall, the shift of habitat shows a latitudinal pattern. Keywords: Musk Deer, Species Distribution Modelling (SDM), MaxEnt, Uttarakhand, Bioclimatic variables.
1. INTRODUCTION The Musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster) is the smallest Himalayan ungulate that is adaptive to live in colder regions. It is found in Bhutan, Northern India, Nepal, and China's Himalayan (Chandra et al., 2021). The musk deer population has dropped dramatically over the last three to four decades, owing primarily to theft of its prized item, the musk pod (the most precious animal products, known as Musk, can sell for more than $55,000 per kg on international markets (Nandy et al., 2020), this species is mostly hunted without regard to age or gender. For every male musk bearer that is killed, four to five musk deer are also killed) (Nandy et al., 2020), large-scale habitat degradation due to livestock grazing and anthropogenic pressures, and meat hunting. Trade in musk deer parts, on the other hand, is prohibited/restricted due to the species' inclusion in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) (Manish et al., 2016).Musk deer are protected in India by the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, under "Schedule I." Musk deer are classed as “Endangered” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2014 (Khadka & James, 2017). Distribution: The Musk deer lives in the forested regions between 2,500 meters and the tree line(Wangdi et al., 2019). In Uttarakhand, the tree line is typically located at a height of roughly 3,300 meters(Adhikari, 2009). The Musk deer is well adapted for living in alpine, subalpine, and high temperate habitats (>.2500 m) even during winter, unlike other ungulates of the Himalaya that must migrate to lower elevations(Aryal & bhatta, 2019). In Uttarakhand musk deer are present in Protected Areas such the Nanda Devi National Park & Biosphere Reserve, Valley of Flowers National Park, Gangotri National Park, Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary, Govind Wildlife Sanctuary, Askot Wildlife Sanctuary, and numerous more Reserve Forest Divisions in the high Himalaya(Syed & Ilyas, 2012).
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