As soon as widespread throughout India, blackbucks at the moment are discovered solely in fragmented populations throughout the nation. A key menace to the inhabitants has been the disappearance of their habitat: the savannah grasslands. Whereas protected areas have been arrange through the years, a brand new examine that centered on blackbuck occupancy in Jayamangali Blackbuck Conservation Reserve in Karnataka’s Tumkur district discovered a shocking statistic — twice as many blackbucks have been current exterior the reserve in comparison with inside.

Printed within the Journal for Nature Conservation, the examine discovered that the savannah-grassland habitat contained in the reserve is severely fragmented by shrubs and eucalyptus plantations, and by cropland exterior it.

In 2007, 798 acres (3.1 sq. kilometres) within the Madhugiri taluk have been notified because the Jayamangali Blackbuck Conservation Reserve (JBCR), a primary in Tumkur district. Okay.S. Seshadri, a college member at Ashoka Belief for Analysis in Ecology and the Atmosphere (ATREE), Bengaluru, and one of many examine authors, noticed extra blackbucks roaming exterior the reserve throughout his annual visits to the place.

However it wasn’t till 2023, when B.R. Manoj Kumar, then a Grasp’s scholar at ATREE (now graduated), expressed curiosity in exploring blackbuck occupancy in JBCR, that the examine took form. “We needed to look into what drives blackbuck’s distribution and whether or not the conservation reserve is definitely efficient,” says Seshadri.

Blackbucks, native inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent, might be present in 13 states. Their quantity has declined up to now, with the latest evaluation in 2016 estimating almost 35,000 people. They’re listed as a species of least concern within the IUCN Crimson Record however are protected in India underneath the Wildlife (Safety) Act, 1972, in accordance with the examine.

In India, some reserves have been created primarily to guard blackbucks, comparable to JBCR and Ranebennur Blackbuck Sanctuary in Karnataka. Nonetheless, there isn’t a lot accessible info on how blackbucks use the habitat in and round these reserves, a spot that the brand new examine addresses.

Outdoors the reserve

At the moment, JBCR contains habitat varieties comparable to grassland, savannah-woodland, and plantations of bushes comparable to eucalyptus and Acacia auriculiformis, in addition to invasive exotics comparable to Prosopis juliflora.

The examine space was unfold over 26.6 sq. kilometres, with the JBCR comprising 3.1 sq. km. and the encircling 2-km buffer of 23.5 sq. km. The researchers categorized the land use and land cowl in and across the JBCR utilizing information from Google Earth. They studied the presence of blackbuck over two seasons, in March-April 2023 after which September 2023.

Utilizing an occupancy framework for detections, they noticed that blackbucks have been extra prone to be discovered exterior the reserve than inside. Blackbuck pellets have been present in 74% (75 out of 102) of grids exterior the reserve and in solely 36 % (23 out of 65) of the grids inside in each seasons. Furthermore, the researchers additionally immediately encountered 180 blackbucks in 14 grids whereas doing the examine, and 13 of those have been exterior the reserve.

“We are able to’t conclude that the reserve doesn’t have an effect on defending the blackbucks. Nonetheless, we now have noticed a damaging affiliation, as blackbucks are extra widespread exterior the reserve,” says Seshadri. Trying on the examine’s maps, the areas with 60% to 100% detection are largely exterior the conservation reserve.

This might point out that the habitat contained in the reserve, which predominantly has shrubs and bushes, could be unsuitable for them. The very best land cowl contained in the reserve is scrubs, which take up 48% of the reserve, adopted by bushes (29%). Nonetheless, blackbucks are recognized to thrive in savannah grasslands, which make up nearly 23% of the reserve space.

“Lots of the bushes are eucalyptus plantations, which have in all probability been there earlier than the reserve was declared. Understanding the biology of blackbucks, it’s fairly clear that they don’t use bushes past in search of shelter as they’re open-habitat species,” Seshadri explains.

The examine additionally confirmed a excessive presence of clumps of Prosopis juliflora, which, Seshadri factors out, blackbucks don’t eat. Actually, a 2021 examine discovered that Prosopis juliflora negatively influenced blackbucks in Level Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary, Guindy Nationwide Park and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu. The unique species lowered grassland, grass biomass and habitat openness considerably.

Blackbucks’ occupancy and distribution are additionally influenced by the variety of shrubs and livestock, the examine states. “Whereas the livestock affected the detections positively, we discovered fewer pellets in areas the place there have been extra shrubs and bushes,” Seshadri explains.

Significance of savannah grasslands

Savannah-grassland habitats, essential for the survival of endemic animals such because the blackbuck, make up 17% of India’s landmass, however the examine notes that solely a small proportion of them are protected.

“The British thought-about the savannah grasslands as wastelands as a result of the aristocrats didn’t get any sort of revenue from them. That view has persevered, and even at the moment these grasslands are seen as areas for improvement tasks, housing schemes, and even industrial areas as an alternative of lands with ecological worth,” says Mihir Godbole, founding father of The Grasslands Belief-India, a Pune-based organisation working to preserve open pure ecosystems.

He provides that the colonisers transformed huge areas of open habitats into plantations and this age-old undervaluation of savannah grasslands has led to their degradation.

“In our current baseline survey, carried out in Maharashtra, we discovered that one or two flora species, which aren’t very excessive in diet or protein content material, have a dominating presence in grasslands. With out a mixture of grasses, there gained’t be a wholesome ecosystem that’s useful to fauna depending on these lands,” Godbole explains.

Extreme tree cowl, particularly, can considerably affect blackbucks’ survival. For example, in April 2022, about 20 blackbuck deaths have been reported in Tamil Nadu throughout the Raj Bhavan campus in Chennai. These deaths have been linked to hunger brought on by the conversion of grasslands into manicured lawns of non-native grass close to the buildings and the invasion of bushes.

Blackbucks are solely depending on grasslands. Godbole explains that they have been reintroduced in lots of forests of central India however didn’t survive.” Some species, like in birds, there’s the lesser florican, and in herbivores, it’s blackbucks, that are the important thing indicators that grassland species can not do nicely in every other habitats,” Godbole says.

In JBCR, the examine’s maps present the encircling panorama is a fragmented patchwork of scrubs, fallow, grasslands, bushes, wetlands, and agricultural fields. The lesser presence of grasslands contained in the reserve may very well be driving the blackbucks exterior it for sustenance. Godbole additionally hyperlinks it to the higher assets within the agricultural fields. “The crops yielded in agricultural fields are way more nutritious than these present in savannah grasslands. Furthermore, water availability can be higher within the fields.”

Actionable suggestions

Within the examine, the authors counsel community-based conservation may enhance conservation efforts of blackbucks in JBCR. “In India, solely government-owned land might be declared as conservation reserves. If we now have to broaden this JBCR space, one possibility is to develop or reassign it as a group conservation reserve, and on this case, the group manages the world,” Seshadri explains.

The opposite possibility, he suggests, is to declare the land across the conservation reserve as a protected space, like a wildlife sanctuary. “However each these choices include problems,” he provides.

The researchers additionally discover eco-tourism as a viable possibility. Seshadri factors in the direction of Wayand Wildlife Sanctuary, the place villages close by couldn’t domesticate any crops due to human-animal battle. So, the deserted paddy fields are handled as meadows or swamps, and native folks’s homes have been transformed into small homestays. “Individuals cost a premium for others to return keep there and observe wildlife,” he says.

Godbole additionally finds worth in eco-tourism together with agrotourism, which he thinks may result in extra accountable agricultural practices, together with the safety of group reserves. “The revenue generated can be sustainable and go in the direction of the area people for the safety of wildlife,” he provides.

Nonetheless, unregulated tourism and stress on accessible assets may emerge as an issue. The examine notes that these choices require cautious implementation to keep away from affecting folks’s rights or harming the ecosystem. “A really actionable suggestion is scaling down the tree cowl contained in the reserve. Eradicating among the eucalyptus may also help the grasslands flourish,” Seshadri says.

Whereas reserve areas have been arrange for blackbucks in India, the examine in JBCR emphasises the pressing must recognise the position of savanna grassland ecosystems, particularly these exterior protected areas, in biodiversity conservation.

 

Banner picture: Blackbucks in Jayamangali Blackbuck Conservation Reserve space in Karnataka’s Tumkur district. Picture by Seshadri Okay.S.