Dietary analyses are particularly useful for developing conservation programmes for species threa... more Dietary analyses are particularly useful for developing conservation programmes for species threatened by resource depletion, poisoning and environmental pollution.Gypsvultures in South Asia represent one such case, having undergone a population collapse caused by feeding on carcasses of cattle treated with the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac. Following a ban on the veterinary use of diclofenac, populations of vultures remain low and mostly concentrated near protected areas. Understanding the role of protected areas in the recovery of these critically endangered species requires analyses of spatial variation in their diet. We used faecal metabarcoding to investigate the spatial variation in the diet ofGypsvultures across four landscapes from sites located inside and outside protected areas. We collected faecal 642 samples, of which 419 yielded adequate molecular data to identify the vulture species and 30 molecular operational taxonomic units corresponding to at leas...
Hanssen, F. (editor), Mathur, V.B. (editor), Athreya, V., Barve, V., Bhardwaj, R., Boumans, L., C... more Hanssen, F. (editor), Mathur, V.B. (editor), Athreya, V., Barve, V., Bhardwaj, R., Boumans, L., Cadman, M., Chavan, V., Ghosh, M., Lindgaard, A., Lofthus, Ø., Mehlum, Pandav, B., Punjabi, G. A., F., González Talaván, A., Talukdar, G., Valland, N. and Vang, R. Capacity building for Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Final report. Indo- Norwegian pilot project on capacity building in biodiversity informatics for enhanced decision making, improved nature conservation and sustainable development. - NINA Report 1079. 116 pp. Dette pilotprosjektet har vært koordinert av Norsk Institutt for Naturforskning (NINA) i nært samarbeid med Wildlife Insitutute of India (WII), Artsdatabanken, Naturhistorisk Museum ved Universitetet i Oslo, Wildlife Conservation Society- India Program (WCS) og Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWF) i India. Prosjektet er finansiert av den Norske Regjering med støtte fra den og India. Prosjektet har samarbeidet med Global Biodivers...
This pilot project has been coordinated by The Norwegian Institute of Nature Research (NINA) in c... more This pilot project has been coordinated by The Norwegian Institute of Nature Research (NINA) in close collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre (NBIC), The Nature History Museum at the University of Oslo (NHM), the Wildlife Conservation Society- India Program (WCS) and the Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWF) in India. The Norwegian Government has funded the project with support from the Indian Government. The project has collaborated with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and has implemented several of the capacity building tools, standards and services offered by GBIF. In addition, WII and NHM host the national GBIF- nodes of India and Norway. Furthermore, the project is closely linked to the Indian and international strategies on biodiversity infrastructure development. The project has focused on national user needs, camera trapping techniques, data management, open access and barriers towards open acces...
Meeting global and regional environmental targets is challenging, given the multiplicity of stake... more Meeting global and regional environmental targets is challenging, given the multiplicity of stakeholders and their diverse and often competing policy agendas and objectives. Relatively few studies have sought to systematically analyse the progress, or lack thereof, of institutionally complex and diffuse projects. Here we analyse one such project, which aims to protect and restore a critical landscape corridor for tigersPanthera tigrisin north-western India, using a temporal–analytic framework that integrates ecological information on species population status and spatial connectivity modelling with a systematic examination of the decision-making process. We find that even with adequate ecological knowledge the tiger population is on the verge of local extinction because of weak institutional support, poor adaptive planning and ineffective leadership in a complex political arena, which has led to delays in conservation action. From the outset the conservation agencies and NGOs that w...
To understand the relative importance of ecological and biogeographical processes structuring ass... more To understand the relative importance of ecological and biogeographical processes structuring assemblages of Himalayan leaf warblers (family Phylloscopidae), through an evaluation of (1) the patterns of species richness and phylogenetic community structure, (2) their environmental determinants, and (3) dispersion of morphological traits within communities.
The study, conducted from January to May, 2011, attempted to understand the potential mechanisms ... more The study, conducted from January to May, 2011, attempted to understand the potential mechanisms that may play arole in food-niche differentiation among four sympatric kingfishers, i.e. Small Blue, Collared, Black-capped, andBrown-winged kingfishers in Bhitarkanika mangroves. For foraging behaviour, an individual was followed till itcaptured a prey and relevant foraging variables were recorded. A total of 53 independent prey captures were recordedfor the four species of kingfishers. Perch height and foraging distance differed significantly among the four kingfisherspecies. All the prey characteristics, i.e., prey type, prey size, and foraging substrate showed significant variationsamong the species. This study revealed that each of the four kingfisher species in Bhitarkanika mangroves occupyforaging niches corresponding to their respective body size. The foraging behaviour of the smallest species, i.e., SmallBlue Kingfisher, and the largest, i.e., Brown-winged Kingfisher, is similar. The foraging behaviour of the Collared andBlack-capped Kingfisher is similar, but they differ in terms of prey size taken, corresponding to their respective bodysizes.
... The understorey was dominated by shrub species such as Mallotus philippensis saplings, Clerod... more ... The understorey was dominated by shrub species such as Mallotus philippensis saplings, Clerodendron viscosum, Carissa opaca and Murraya ... Bonner Zool Monogr 38:1445 Martin JL, Thibault JC (1996) Coexistence in Mediterranean warblers: ecological differences or ...
Speciation generally involves a three-step process—range expansion, range fragmentation and the d... more Speciation generally involves a three-step process—range expansion, range fragmentation and the development of reproductive isolation between spatially separated populations1, 2. Speciation relies on cycling through these three steps and each may limit the rate at which new species form1, 3. We estimate phylogenetic relationships among all Himalayan songbirds to ask whether the development of reproductive isolation and ecological competition, both factors that limit range expansions4, set an ultimate limit on speciation. Based on a phylogeny for all 358 species distributed along the eastern elevational gradient, here we show that body size and shape differences evolved early in the radiation, with the elevational band occupied by a species evolving later. These results are consistent with competition for niche space limiting species accumulation5. Even the elevation dimension seems to be approaching ecological saturation, because the closest relatives both inside the assemblage and elsewhere in the Himalayas are on average separated by more than five million years, which is longer than it generally takes for reproductive isolation to be completed2, 3, 6; also, elevational distributions are well explained by resource availability, notably the abundance of arthropods, and not by differences in diversification rates in different elevational zones. Our results imply that speciation rate is ultimately set by niche filling (that is, ecological competition for resources), rather than by the rate of acquisition of reproductive isolation.
Aim
To understand the relative importance of ecological and biogeographical processes structuring... more Aim To understand the relative importance of ecological and biogeographical processes structuring assemblages of Himalayan leaf warblers (family Phylloscopidae), through an evaluation of (1) the patterns of species richness and phylogenetic community structure, (2) their environmental determinants, and (3) dispersion of morphological traits within communities.
Location Elevational gradients across the east and the west Himalayas, India.
Methods Species presences were assessed at 16 sites along eight elevational gradients. Phylogenetic conservatism was assessed in three functional morphological traits (body size, tarsus length, beak shape) and phylogenetic structure in terms of the net relatedness index (NRI) was quantified using a published phylogenetic tree. Site-specific species richness and NRI were related to climatic variables and arthropod abundance. Morphological trait metrics were also calculated and the observed trait dispersion related to patterns of species richness and phylogenetic structure of the assemblages.
Results The 16 assemblages, composed of two to eight species, ran the entire spectrum of significance in terms of their phylogenetic structure, resulting in many clustered assemblages at low elevations and a few overdispersed assemblages at higher elevations. Phylogenetic structure was not significantly correlated with species richness, although variation in both was largely explained by maximum temperature and arthropod abundance. At the regional scale, both trait filtering (beak shape) and trait convergence (tarsus length) seem to influence the distribution of species along the elevational gradients. Dispersion of body size metrics suggested filtering and competition as predicted by phylogenetic structure, while beak shape metrics suggested competitive interactions even in phylogenetically clustered assemblages.
Main conclusions The interaction of multiple assembly processes (competition, filtering and history) appears to structure the Himalayan leaf warbler assemblages. Phylogenetic community structure largely reflected the biogeographical history of species accumulation into the Himalayas, while processes structuring local assemblages were better explained by the dispersion of traits.
Dietary analyses are particularly useful for developing conservation programmes for species threa... more Dietary analyses are particularly useful for developing conservation programmes for species threatened by resource depletion, poisoning and environmental pollution.Gypsvultures in South Asia represent one such case, having undergone a population collapse caused by feeding on carcasses of cattle treated with the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac. Following a ban on the veterinary use of diclofenac, populations of vultures remain low and mostly concentrated near protected areas. Understanding the role of protected areas in the recovery of these critically endangered species requires analyses of spatial variation in their diet. We used faecal metabarcoding to investigate the spatial variation in the diet ofGypsvultures across four landscapes from sites located inside and outside protected areas. We collected faecal 642 samples, of which 419 yielded adequate molecular data to identify the vulture species and 30 molecular operational taxonomic units corresponding to at leas...
Hanssen, F. (editor), Mathur, V.B. (editor), Athreya, V., Barve, V., Bhardwaj, R., Boumans, L., C... more Hanssen, F. (editor), Mathur, V.B. (editor), Athreya, V., Barve, V., Bhardwaj, R., Boumans, L., Cadman, M., Chavan, V., Ghosh, M., Lindgaard, A., Lofthus, Ø., Mehlum, Pandav, B., Punjabi, G. A., F., González Talaván, A., Talukdar, G., Valland, N. and Vang, R. Capacity building for Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Final report. Indo- Norwegian pilot project on capacity building in biodiversity informatics for enhanced decision making, improved nature conservation and sustainable development. - NINA Report 1079. 116 pp. Dette pilotprosjektet har vært koordinert av Norsk Institutt for Naturforskning (NINA) i nært samarbeid med Wildlife Insitutute of India (WII), Artsdatabanken, Naturhistorisk Museum ved Universitetet i Oslo, Wildlife Conservation Society- India Program (WCS) og Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWF) i India. Prosjektet er finansiert av den Norske Regjering med støtte fra den og India. Prosjektet har samarbeidet med Global Biodivers...
This pilot project has been coordinated by The Norwegian Institute of Nature Research (NINA) in c... more This pilot project has been coordinated by The Norwegian Institute of Nature Research (NINA) in close collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre (NBIC), The Nature History Museum at the University of Oslo (NHM), the Wildlife Conservation Society- India Program (WCS) and the Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWF) in India. The Norwegian Government has funded the project with support from the Indian Government. The project has collaborated with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and has implemented several of the capacity building tools, standards and services offered by GBIF. In addition, WII and NHM host the national GBIF- nodes of India and Norway. Furthermore, the project is closely linked to the Indian and international strategies on biodiversity infrastructure development. The project has focused on national user needs, camera trapping techniques, data management, open access and barriers towards open acces...
Meeting global and regional environmental targets is challenging, given the multiplicity of stake... more Meeting global and regional environmental targets is challenging, given the multiplicity of stakeholders and their diverse and often competing policy agendas and objectives. Relatively few studies have sought to systematically analyse the progress, or lack thereof, of institutionally complex and diffuse projects. Here we analyse one such project, which aims to protect and restore a critical landscape corridor for tigersPanthera tigrisin north-western India, using a temporal–analytic framework that integrates ecological information on species population status and spatial connectivity modelling with a systematic examination of the decision-making process. We find that even with adequate ecological knowledge the tiger population is on the verge of local extinction because of weak institutional support, poor adaptive planning and ineffective leadership in a complex political arena, which has led to delays in conservation action. From the outset the conservation agencies and NGOs that w...
To understand the relative importance of ecological and biogeographical processes structuring ass... more To understand the relative importance of ecological and biogeographical processes structuring assemblages of Himalayan leaf warblers (family Phylloscopidae), through an evaluation of (1) the patterns of species richness and phylogenetic community structure, (2) their environmental determinants, and (3) dispersion of morphological traits within communities.
The study, conducted from January to May, 2011, attempted to understand the potential mechanisms ... more The study, conducted from January to May, 2011, attempted to understand the potential mechanisms that may play arole in food-niche differentiation among four sympatric kingfishers, i.e. Small Blue, Collared, Black-capped, andBrown-winged kingfishers in Bhitarkanika mangroves. For foraging behaviour, an individual was followed till itcaptured a prey and relevant foraging variables were recorded. A total of 53 independent prey captures were recordedfor the four species of kingfishers. Perch height and foraging distance differed significantly among the four kingfisherspecies. All the prey characteristics, i.e., prey type, prey size, and foraging substrate showed significant variationsamong the species. This study revealed that each of the four kingfisher species in Bhitarkanika mangroves occupyforaging niches corresponding to their respective body size. The foraging behaviour of the smallest species, i.e., SmallBlue Kingfisher, and the largest, i.e., Brown-winged Kingfisher, is similar. The foraging behaviour of the Collared andBlack-capped Kingfisher is similar, but they differ in terms of prey size taken, corresponding to their respective bodysizes.
... The understorey was dominated by shrub species such as Mallotus philippensis saplings, Clerod... more ... The understorey was dominated by shrub species such as Mallotus philippensis saplings, Clerodendron viscosum, Carissa opaca and Murraya ... Bonner Zool Monogr 38:1445 Martin JL, Thibault JC (1996) Coexistence in Mediterranean warblers: ecological differences or ...
Speciation generally involves a three-step process—range expansion, range fragmentation and the d... more Speciation generally involves a three-step process—range expansion, range fragmentation and the development of reproductive isolation between spatially separated populations1, 2. Speciation relies on cycling through these three steps and each may limit the rate at which new species form1, 3. We estimate phylogenetic relationships among all Himalayan songbirds to ask whether the development of reproductive isolation and ecological competition, both factors that limit range expansions4, set an ultimate limit on speciation. Based on a phylogeny for all 358 species distributed along the eastern elevational gradient, here we show that body size and shape differences evolved early in the radiation, with the elevational band occupied by a species evolving later. These results are consistent with competition for niche space limiting species accumulation5. Even the elevation dimension seems to be approaching ecological saturation, because the closest relatives both inside the assemblage and elsewhere in the Himalayas are on average separated by more than five million years, which is longer than it generally takes for reproductive isolation to be completed2, 3, 6; also, elevational distributions are well explained by resource availability, notably the abundance of arthropods, and not by differences in diversification rates in different elevational zones. Our results imply that speciation rate is ultimately set by niche filling (that is, ecological competition for resources), rather than by the rate of acquisition of reproductive isolation.
Aim
To understand the relative importance of ecological and biogeographical processes structuring... more Aim To understand the relative importance of ecological and biogeographical processes structuring assemblages of Himalayan leaf warblers (family Phylloscopidae), through an evaluation of (1) the patterns of species richness and phylogenetic community structure, (2) their environmental determinants, and (3) dispersion of morphological traits within communities.
Location Elevational gradients across the east and the west Himalayas, India.
Methods Species presences were assessed at 16 sites along eight elevational gradients. Phylogenetic conservatism was assessed in three functional morphological traits (body size, tarsus length, beak shape) and phylogenetic structure in terms of the net relatedness index (NRI) was quantified using a published phylogenetic tree. Site-specific species richness and NRI were related to climatic variables and arthropod abundance. Morphological trait metrics were also calculated and the observed trait dispersion related to patterns of species richness and phylogenetic structure of the assemblages.
Results The 16 assemblages, composed of two to eight species, ran the entire spectrum of significance in terms of their phylogenetic structure, resulting in many clustered assemblages at low elevations and a few overdispersed assemblages at higher elevations. Phylogenetic structure was not significantly correlated with species richness, although variation in both was largely explained by maximum temperature and arthropod abundance. At the regional scale, both trait filtering (beak shape) and trait convergence (tarsus length) seem to influence the distribution of species along the elevational gradients. Dispersion of body size metrics suggested filtering and competition as predicted by phylogenetic structure, while beak shape metrics suggested competitive interactions even in phylogenetically clustered assemblages.
Main conclusions The interaction of multiple assembly processes (competition, filtering and history) appears to structure the Himalayan leaf warbler assemblages. Phylogenetic community structure largely reflected the biogeographical history of species accumulation into the Himalayas, while processes structuring local assemblages were better explained by the dispersion of traits.
Uploads
Papers
To understand the relative importance of ecological and biogeographical processes structuring assemblages of Himalayan leaf warblers (family Phylloscopidae), through an evaluation of (1) the patterns of species richness and phylogenetic community structure, (2) their environmental determinants, and (3) dispersion of morphological traits within communities.
Location
Elevational gradients across the east and the west Himalayas, India.
Methods
Species presences were assessed at 16 sites along eight elevational gradients. Phylogenetic conservatism was assessed in three functional morphological traits (body size, tarsus length, beak shape) and phylogenetic structure in terms of the net relatedness index (NRI) was quantified using a published phylogenetic tree. Site-specific species richness and NRI were related to climatic variables and arthropod abundance. Morphological trait metrics were also calculated and the observed trait dispersion related to patterns of species richness and phylogenetic structure of the assemblages.
Results
The 16 assemblages, composed of two to eight species, ran the entire spectrum of significance in terms of their phylogenetic structure, resulting in many clustered assemblages at low elevations and a few overdispersed assemblages at higher elevations. Phylogenetic structure was not significantly correlated with species richness, although variation in both was largely explained by maximum temperature and arthropod abundance. At the regional scale, both trait filtering (beak shape) and trait convergence (tarsus length) seem to influence the distribution of species along the elevational gradients. Dispersion of body size metrics suggested filtering and competition as predicted by phylogenetic structure, while beak shape metrics suggested competitive interactions even in phylogenetically clustered assemblages.
Main conclusions
The interaction of multiple assembly processes (competition, filtering and history) appears to structure the Himalayan leaf warbler assemblages. Phylogenetic community structure largely reflected the biogeographical history of species accumulation into the Himalayas, while processes structuring local assemblages were better explained by the dispersion of traits.
To understand the relative importance of ecological and biogeographical processes structuring assemblages of Himalayan leaf warblers (family Phylloscopidae), through an evaluation of (1) the patterns of species richness and phylogenetic community structure, (2) their environmental determinants, and (3) dispersion of morphological traits within communities.
Location
Elevational gradients across the east and the west Himalayas, India.
Methods
Species presences were assessed at 16 sites along eight elevational gradients. Phylogenetic conservatism was assessed in three functional morphological traits (body size, tarsus length, beak shape) and phylogenetic structure in terms of the net relatedness index (NRI) was quantified using a published phylogenetic tree. Site-specific species richness and NRI were related to climatic variables and arthropod abundance. Morphological trait metrics were also calculated and the observed trait dispersion related to patterns of species richness and phylogenetic structure of the assemblages.
Results
The 16 assemblages, composed of two to eight species, ran the entire spectrum of significance in terms of their phylogenetic structure, resulting in many clustered assemblages at low elevations and a few overdispersed assemblages at higher elevations. Phylogenetic structure was not significantly correlated with species richness, although variation in both was largely explained by maximum temperature and arthropod abundance. At the regional scale, both trait filtering (beak shape) and trait convergence (tarsus length) seem to influence the distribution of species along the elevational gradients. Dispersion of body size metrics suggested filtering and competition as predicted by phylogenetic structure, while beak shape metrics suggested competitive interactions even in phylogenetically clustered assemblages.
Main conclusions
The interaction of multiple assembly processes (competition, filtering and history) appears to structure the Himalayan leaf warbler assemblages. Phylogenetic community structure largely reflected the biogeographical history of species accumulation into the Himalayas, while processes structuring local assemblages were better explained by the dispersion of traits.