Population and conservation status of the Himalayan Griffon (Gyps himalayensis) at the Drigung Thel Monastery, Tibet, China

Liu, Chao; Huo, Zhiping; Yu, Xiaoping

doi:10.5122/cbirds.2013.0027

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Vultures feed on carrion including discarded dead animals, which makes them an important component of the ecosystem. They also play an important cultural role in southern Asia (parts of India, Nepal and Tibet) as they consume human cadavers which are left in the open during ritual sky-burials (Singh 1999;GON 2009;Liu et al 2013). The decline of the vulture population in the Indian subcontinent has removed a major scavenger population, with effects on other scavenging species and the incidence of putrefying carcasses, both of which have associated disease risks for wildlife, livestock and humans (GOI 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution of vultures in Uttar Pradesh, India

Jha

2015

J. Threat. Taxa

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The author is currently a professor working in the field of conservation, livelihood and policy analysis. For more than 29 years the author has been part of the forestry administration and natural resource management. He has extensively worked on tree improvement, plantation ecology and aquatic habitat conservation.Acknowledgements: This work was done while the author was Chief Conservator of Forests, Eco-Development, Lucknow UP. The administrative support of Chief Wildlife Warden of UP is duly acknowledged. The field staff is also acknowledged for population estimation and other data collection work. Shri Suresh Chaudhary and Shri Fazlur Rahman are thanked for providing some photographs. Special thanks are due to Dr M.D. Omprakash, IIFM, Bhopal for preparing the GPS based maps.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution of vultures in Uttar Pradesh, India

Jha

2015

J. Threat. Taxa

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“…This is a very unusual phenomenon. We speculate that the food shortages is a reason why they are still in the nest (Ma et al 2013, Liu et al 2013, Clements et al 2013. At the same time, in the western region, we found some vultures breeding earlier than normal, which may be a strategy response to climate change, different land-use practices and food changes (Houston 1990, Murn andAnderson 2008).…”

Section: The Threat Of the Power Gridmentioning

confidence: 60%

Status and threats to vultures in China

MaMing¹,

Xu²

2015

Vul. News

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“…This funerary ritual, practiced by indigenous communities in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, involves the decomposition of corpses but serves as a means of nourishment for species such as the Himalayan Vulture ( Gyps himalayensis ) and often attracts significant numbers of other species of scavenging birds (Hu et al., 2022; MaMing et al., 2016). This is the cultural concept of life transmigration, the belief that allowing their remains to be consumed by vultures signifies to believers of a transfer of their souls into the realm of transmigration, ascending into the sky (Liu et al., 2013). Despite the significance of celestial burial as a means of what is essentially supplementary feeding of vultures, research investigating its impact on these species is scarce.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human–wildlife coexistence on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau: The correlation between Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and avian community composition

Wangjie,

Lou,

Song

et al. 2024

People and Nature

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Tibetan Buddhist monasteries are widely distributed throughout the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and are significant locations for human–wildlife coexistence. Given the significance of their historical and contemporary social influence, it is crucial to ascertain whether there exists a non‐negligible correlation between these monasteries and their surrounding wildlife. In contrast to sacred mountains and lakes, there have been few studies that have examined the relationship between Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and wildlife communities. Using birds as a model ecological community, generalized mixed effect models (GLMM) were employed to examine relationships between the presence of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and the number of individuals (relative abundance), avian species richness and diversity, using data from bird‐watching checklists (n = 262) obtained from the China Bird Report. Our models also included landscape‐wide environmental factors, including the ratio of woodland habitat, grassland habitat and open habitats, human footprint index, distance to nearest human occupation (villages), distance to water, altitude, time, presence of monastery and their interactions. Observation time was included as a model covariate. The presence of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and the interactions between the presence of monasteries and environmental variables exhibit a significant correlation with the number of individual birds recorded (relative abundance), but not with observed species richness or diversity. Moreover, the relative abundance of birds was found to be significantly higher in areas around monasteries compared to those without monasteries. The abundance of species from eight families, namely Accipitridae, Corvidae, Columbidae, Passeridae, Leiothrichidae, Friningillidae, Musciapidae and Turidae, was significantly positively correlated with the presence of monasteries. Notably, the positive correlation of Accipitridae with the presence of celestial burial grounds around monasteries suggests a relationship between celestial burial practices and Accipitridae abundance at these sites. Our study reveals a significant positive correlation between Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and aspects of avian community composition in the eastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, thus highlights their potential role in the preservation of avian populations in fragmented landscape habitats. We encourage the government and relevant national parks stakeholders to implement targeted management strategies that take into account the unique patterns of human–wildlife coexistence in these areas, and to leverage the cultural advantages of the region to promote ecological conservation. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Population and conservation status of the Himalayan Griffon (Gyps himalayensis) at the Drigung Thel Monastery, Tibet, China

Abstract: This population is considered relatively stable, thanks to the current conservation measures by Buddhist monks and local people. Given the lack of any baseline information, it is difficult for us to recommend and provide any effective conservation measures.

Cited by 3 publications

References 11 publications

Distribution of vultures in Uttar Pradesh, India

Distribution of vultures in Uttar Pradesh, India

Status and threats to vultures in China

Human–wildlife coexistence on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau: The correlation between Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and avian community composition

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