Abhijit Das

Diversity and Distribution of Herpetofauna and Evaluation of their Conservation Status in Barail Hill Range, (Including Newly Declared Barail WLS,) Assam, Northeast India

Evergreen Forest Stream of Barail Wildlife Sanctuary.

Calotes Emma remarkable range extension for the genus in India.

The overhanging vegetations of evergreen forest strems are key refuge for Barail Herpetofauna as for this Green cat snake.

Dendralaphis sp. a rare find for the herpetofauna of India.

LocationCountryCategoriesDate
Barail Hill Range, AssamIndiaEducation, Habitat, Indian Sub-continent, Reptiles9 Oct 2006

Barail hill range is a southwestern extension of Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot and is the highest hill range of Assam state covering two districts- Cachar and North Cachar. The range is characterized by low to mid elevation hills having tropical vegetations on lower altitudes and sub-tropical broad-leaved hill forest at higher reaches.

Unlike mammals and birds, information on the regions amphibians and reptiles of this range is largely lacking. Since comprehensive accounts of regional species composition and their distribution pattern are fundamental to initializing meaningful research program and conservation implication, so, a detailed herpetofaunal inventory at different altitudinal grades of this montane tract is targeted. The study is planned in four phases.

1) The first phase will comprise of co-ordination with forest department, local villagers as well as identification of study sites at different altitudinal grades.

2) Second phase will include inventory and photographic documentation of diversity as well as preparation of habitat maps and identification of species specific and habitat specific threats.

3) Outreach program in fringe village areas and in nearby educational institutions will be undertaken to motivate local peoples, students and forest staffs.

4) The generated information will made available through website, media, peer reviewed journal and printed educational materials. GIS mapping of Barail hills showing regions of high herpetofaunal diversity will help in suggestion of new conservation strategy. Scientific report of the findings will be prepared and submitted to forest department, funding agency and relevant scientific organizations.

It is being expected that the study will bring out valuable information regarding herpetofaunal assemblage as well as distribution pattern across various habitat types and at different altitudinal grades in the hill range, which in turn help in identification of Zones of high species richness. This will enable management authorities to formulate habitat conservation action plan. Identification of threatened taxa and species in immediate need of conservation measure will enable scientific and management bodies to initiate species-specific conservation action plan. The outreach program will help in awareness among local villagers and forest staff’s of newly declared Barail Wildlife Sanctuary (June 2004: area 326 sq. Km.) and help motivate young graduate students to take up crucial issue of herpetofaunal conservation.

This project is part of a range of projects run by Aaranyak.

Project Update: May 2007

The Phase I (September 2006- December2007)
Study permission from Assam forest Department was received and all local forest offices visited. Field sites were identified and secondary data generated from interaction with fringe villagers.

Phase II (January 2007-February 2007)
Field works initiated on 18th January 2007 from a place called Bijoypur at the foothills of Barail. During those winter months, the Herpetofaunal abundance was minimal although we came across some interesting mammalian records.

March 2007 - onwards
Field works covering the south-western side of Barail Wildlife Sanctuary(BWS). We made transects through existed forest trails as well as rocky evergreen forest streams. The field sites covered is Lakhicherra, Telacherra, Chamduba, Duiganga, Puticherra, Notbank, Adakuchi, Chotorampur, Bijoypur and Puraline all at low to mid elevations of BWS.

Herpetofaunal Records:
So far we came across 32 species of Herpetofauna of which 24 species of Reptiles and 8 species of Amphibians. This diversity constitutes a typical assemblage of either evergreen forest stream or thick forest floor species.

Important Distributional Records:
• An Agamid (Acanthosaura sp) encountered on 28th March 2007. Solving the species identity may yield further novelty to science.
• Assamese Water Skink (Tropidophorus assamensis), forms first record of this rare skink from Assam State.

Other Activities:
• Important natural history information’s of little known Herpetofauna were gathered and area specific threats delineated.
• Interaction with Zoology teachers of the two local colleges namely Cachar College and Gurucharan College both at Silchar. During this part of our Barail Herpetofauna Project we received field assistance from Abhishek Das, Mona Barman, Panna Barman, Pileos Khasia, Kolbinuse Khasia and Sadhan Tati all from fringe villages of BWS.

Project Update: September 2007

More Herpetofaunal Records:
A total of 51 species of Reptiles and Amphibians so far been identified from Barail Hill range. Some more species yet to be identified up to specific level and discussion among herpetological community is going on for their exact identity.

Significant findings:
• Microhyla butleri a microhylid frog, constitute first report from Assam state.
• A Dendralaphis sp. showed dissimilarity with all the known species of the genus known from India.
Natural History information:
• Important Ecological and biological information of Mabuya sp, Bungurus niger, Boiga cynea, Thakydromous sexliniatus were gathered.

Vegetation Analysis:
Field botanist Mr. Santanu Dey of Aaranyak analyzed the vegetation of present study area. He listed the plant species and identified the dominance index for plants. The data will be crucial information in analyzing the habitat of Barail Herpetofauna.

Outreach Activity:
• Stickers on Herpetofauna prepared and distributed among various target groups.
• The significant findings of Barail Herpetofauna project were included while presenting a paper on “Threatened tropical Herpetofauna of Northeast India and their conservation status” at the 21st Annual General conference (1st – 5th July 2007) of Society for Conservation Biologist held at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
• 5 number popular talks at fringe villages (Maruacherra and Barkhola) arranged and three slide shows (1 each at Assam State Zoo, Aarohan and Kaziranga National Park Interpretation Center) were completed.

Project Update: November 2007

The attached PDF of Barail Herpetofauna Poster came out in November.

File DownloadSize
Barail Herpetofauna Poster.pdf2.35 MB
Article: 2007

Rediscovery of skink after a century

You may have spent many a lazy afternoon gazing at the antics of lizards or turned your face away in disgust watching them feast on their prey. But did you know there are more lizard species in this world than one can count? Page url: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071031/asp/northeast/story_8489074.asp

Final Report

Read more about the activities undertaken and findings of this project in the final report below.

File DownloadSize
Detailed Final Report.pdf5.37 MB
2nd RSG Awarded

Read about the development of this project with a second RSG at http://www.ruffordsmallgrants.org/rsg/projects/abhijit_das_0


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