Pheasants play a distinctive and significant role in high altitudinal ecosystems. These are good indicators of environmental changes, and their presence determines the health and balance of the bio-network. Recent human pressure continues to degrade their populations, and some pheasant species are already extinct. Therefore, the current study focuses on pheasant abundance and emerging conservation issues. The pheasant population was assessed using “Call count methods” and analyzed by DISTANCE software. The results revealed that the valleys where human interference is minimum had significantly higher encounter rates and densities of pheasants. At the same time, the pheasant population was severely affected, whether found at lower or higher altitudes, showing seasonal migration toward human settlements. The habitat suitability modeling was performed using the MaxEnt model and showed that human activities overlap with the suitable natural habitats of pheasants. The threats were identified using a systematic questionnaire survey from the nearest villages of the potential habitat, and particular attention was paid to valleys where human pressures were found to be high. Major infrastructure development projects, illegal hunting, and deforestation were identified as the major threats to the pheasant population. The study concluded that proper conservation measures are required to protect pheasants in their potential habitats.
Pheasants are declining everywhere in the world and therefore updated information about their population and habitats are important for conservation and management. The present study was conducted in the Palas Valley, District Kohistan, Pakistan in late spring (May and June) 2020 and early spring (March and April) 2021 to assess the population and anthropogenic stress. The major focus was on three sympatric pheasant species, including Western Horned Tragopan (Tragopan melanocephalus), Himalayan Monal (Lophophorus impejanus), and Koklass Pheasant (Pucrasia macrolopha). We used the “Call Count Method” for the population assessment in the field, and a questionnaire survey was conducted to document the risk assessment of local residents of the valley. The population assessments revealed that the Koklass Pheasant is more adapted to increasing anthropogenic activities and its population appeared more or less similar as 22 years ago. In the past 22 years, Western Tragopan and Himalayan Monal have lost about 40–50% of their populations. Human interference in the form of illegal hunting, deforestation, and overgrazing was found to be common in the valley. The study concludes that the Palas Valley habitat is ideal for pheasant species; however, human interference in the form of urbanization, habitat fragmentation, illegal hunting, and deforestation is occurring at a rapid pace, causing havoc in the pheasant population.
The Himalayan pheasants are under the greatest threat due to habitat degradation, and loss. Quantifying geographical range and suitable habitat of a species can help in better management and conservation decisions. Himalayan Monal (Lophophorus impejanus) and Koklass (Pucrasia macrolopha) are endemic to the Himalayas and Hindukush mountains. This study aims to investigate habitat suitability of these pheasants in the western Himalayas and Hindukush. MaxEnt and Cringing models were used to document habitat suitability and to identify valleys with most suitable habitat. MaxEnt model displayed excellent predictive performance showing a strong prediction of the probability distribution and habitat. The area under cover (AUC) values quantified for the replicate runs were 0.994 (±0.001) and 0.991 (±0.005) for Himalayan Monal and Koklass pheasant respectively. The climatic parameters including temperature, precipitation of the warmest quarter (bio_18) contributed the maximum 21.3% and 23.5%, followed by annual precipitation (bio_12) 12.3% and 8.9% for habitat prediction of Monal and Koklass. The topographical variables, altitude, slope, and distance to settlements contributed 15.2%, 2.6%, and 16% in the Monal habitat prediction model while 8.4%, 10.5%, and 15.8% for the Koklass habitat prediction model respectively. We quantified highly suitable (844.4 sq. km), moderately suitable (2819.42 sq. km), and less suitable (3933.09 sq. km) habitat for Monal pheasant. Whereas, highly suitable habitat for Koklass pheasant was (611.5 sq. km), followed by moderately suitable (2551.3 sq. km), and less suitable (4494.11 sq. km). Bar Palas region of Koli Palas district, Jalkot and Kandia valley of district upper Kohistan and Kayal valley of district lower Kohistan were identified as core zones or hot spots for these pheasant species. Areas identified as core zone/hotspot and suitable habitat for the pheasant species should be legally protected for the conservation of pheasants.
In the modern era of globalization, modes of communication are transforming our cultures dynamically.The research aimed to highlight the trends regarding sharing posts on one of the most popular social networking sites,i.e., Facebook, among youth. The idea behind conducting this research was to find out the average probability of University students who had access to SNS, especially facebook, who consider them authentic sources of information,the rationale behind their posts, information, or misinformation contributed through Facebook on ethnicities and religion. The research was descriptive. The data was collected through an open-ended questionnaire from 135 students of four leading universities from twin cities over one month. The research can help us understand whether this mode of learning has effectively played a mentoring role for our youth or is manipulated by insufficient knowledge of religious texts, resultantly promoting intersect harmony or conflict
The impact of a changing climate, particularly global warming, often harms the distribution of pheasants, particularly those with limited endemic ranges. To effectively create plans of action aimed at conserving species facing threats such as the Western Tragopan, (Tragopan melanocephalus; Gray, 1829; Galliformes, found in the western Himalayas), it is crucial to understand how future distributions may be affected by anticipated climate change. This study utilized MaxEnt modeling to assess how suitable the habitat of the targeted species is likely to be under different climate scenarios. While similar studies have been conducted regionally, there has been no research on this particular endemic animal species found in the western Himalayas throughout the entire distribution range. The study utilized a total of 200 occurrence points; 19 bioclimatic, four anthropogenic, three topographic, and a vegetation variable were also used. To determine the most fitting model, species distribution modeling (SDM) was employed, and the MaxEnt calibration and optimization techniques were utilized. Data for projected climate scenarios of the 2050s and 2070s were obtained from SSPs 245 and SSPs 585. Among all the variables analyzed; aspect, precipitation of coldest quarter, mean diurnal range, enhanced vegetation index, precipitation of driest month, temperature seasonality, annual precipitation, human footprint, precipitation of driest quarter, and temperature annual range were recognized as the most influential drivers, in that order. The predicted scenarios had high accuracy values (AUC-ROC > 0.9). Based on the feedback provided by the inhabitants, it was observed that the livability of the selected species could potentially rise (between 3.7 to 13%) in all projected scenarios of climate change, because this species is relocating towards the northern regions of the elevation gradient, which is farther from the residential areas, and their habitats are shrinking. The suitable habitats of the Tragopan melanocephalus in the Himalayan region will move significantly by 725 m upwards, because of predicted climate change. However, the fact that the species is considered extinct in most areas and only found in small patches suggests that further research is required to avert a further population decline and delineate the reasons leading to the regional extinction of the species. The results of this study can serve as a foundation for devising conservation strategies for Tragopan melanocephalus under the changing climate and provide a framework for subsequent surveillance efforts aimed at protecting the species.
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