Identifying Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus) conservation areas in Lahaul Valley, Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

Large carnivores that occur in low densities, particularly in the high-altitude areas are globally threatened because of habitat loss and anthropogenic disturbances. Among the eight bear species, brown bear has the largest distribution range, where the Himalayan brown bear distribution is restricted to Himalayan high lands with relatively small and fragmented populations. In the Indian Himalayan regions, the brown bear is mostly distributed in the high-altitude ranges of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory (UT), Ladakh UT, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand but poorly studied due to elusive nature and rugged landscape. So far, very little information is available on the species except for few distribution records and short-term studies focused on bear-human conflict. Much of its distribution range in India is largely unexplored and hence, no scientific information is available which is vital for the conservation of the species and management of its habitats.Therefore, the present study was conducted aiming at distribution and occupancy assessment of brown bear in the Lahaul Valley of Himachal Pradesh. We have used both sign survey and camera trapping for understanding the site occupancy of the species using habitat covariates. The study landscape was divided into 10 km × 10 km grids, and in each grid, at least 4 camera traps were deployed strategically. Further, a total of 56 trails were also surveyed in the selected grids. The total effort of n = 758 camera nights and 544 km trail walk resulted with naïve occupancy of 0.54 in the Lahaul Valley, which is slightly lower than the estimated one (0.562–0.757). Out of 34 single-season occupancy models run for the brown bear with different site co-variants, only ‘agriculture land’ (β = 24; ±14) and combined effect of ‘agriculture land + alpine grassland’ (β = 28.0 ± 10) showed a positive association with occupancy of brown bear in the Lahaul Valley. Whereas, detection probability was mostly explained by habitat covariates such as ‘human settlement’ (β = 0.00 ± 0.00) and ‘alpine grassland’ (β = −0.73, ±0.31) which showed a negative association. The positive relationship of occupancy with agriculture land indicated that Himalayan brown bears are using an agriculture land which is leading to increasing bear-human conflict. Through the present study, we identified few areas in Lahaul Valley for priority conservation actions. Keywords: Human-brown bear conflict, Himalayas, Crop depredation