EFFECT OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS ON CHITAL (Axis axis) POPULATION IN MUKANDRA HILLS TIGER RESERVE

Rajendra Singh Rajawat 1 and Subhash Chandra 2 . 1. Asst. Prof. Dept. of Zoology, Government College, Kota, Rajasthan (India). 2. Prof & Head Dept. Of Zoology, MDS University, Ajmer, Rajasthan (India). ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History Received: 15 March 2019 Final Accepted: 17 April 2019 Published: May 2019

Human settlements and its effects resulted in natural wild habitat degradation and destruction due to increased land use by human population. Chital is an ecological important species in Mukandra Hills Tiger Reserve. Due to notified as tiger reserve in 2013, Chital population during last five years have recovered from a sharp declines in past caused by human settlements in and around the study area. Human settlements presently continued to threaten Chital population in spite of the strict laws under study area due to wildlife habitat destruction. Chital is the most abundant prey species in study area. Major factors which declined or affected the Chital population in the study area were land use for agriculture, deforestation, poaching and hunting, grazing competition with livestock, pollution, roads and train network. Chital (Axis axis) is a medium sized deer species which is distributed all over in india and also native of Nepal, Srilanka, Bangladesh (Prater, 1934;Schaller, 1967). Its population is declined outside protected areas but inside protected areas its population is increasing. Chital is included under Schedule III of wildlife protection act and listed as least concern in IUCN ( Duckworth et al, 2015). Poaching and hunting of Chital is prohibited under schedule III of Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972. Mukandra Hills Tiger Reserve is suitable habitat for Chital due to open grassland adjacent to dense forest which is most favored habitat by Chital. Chital follows fission fusion system of fluid group formation (Fuchs, 1977;Mishra, 1982;Barrete, 1991).The average group size changes temporal, monthly and seasonally Gadgil, 1975, 1980;Khan et al., 1996) as well as according to habitat (Karanth and Sunquist, 1992). Chital has been also studied in Ranthmbhore (Bagchi et al., , 2004(Bagchi et al., . 2008, Corbett (De and spillet, 1966;Tak and Lamba, 1984), Gir (Dave, 2008), Hawaii (Graf and Nicholas, 1966), Bandipur (Johansingh, 1983), Mukandra (Sultana, 2007;Khan, 2015), Sariska (Sankar, 1994;Chandra, 2013), Guindy (Raman, 1997(Raman, , 1998 Study area:-MHTR includes 417.17 square km core area and 342.82 square km buffer area with a total 759.99 square km area. There are 16 villages inside core area and 14 villages in buffer area of MHTR. It is located in the south east part of Rajasthan of India. As for boundary information Chambal, Ahu and Kalisindh River situated at west, south and east boundary of MHTR. Delhi-Mumbai Train-Line and Jaipur-Jabalpur National Highway passing through Darrah fragmented MHTR in two parts. Kota-Rawatbhata State Highway also fragmented the western part of MHTR (Nama et. al., 2013).Darrah Wildlife Sanctuary supports rich biodiversity but due to biotic pressure resulting in destruction of forest and reduction of biodiversity during late 20th century ).
Human settlement and Land use around the Park: -There are a large number of human populations living in and around MHTR. Gurjar, Bhil, Meena, Kathodi and Rajput community are living in this area. Cattle and Human population of these villages exert tremendous biotic pressure on the adjoining forest area. Villages coming inside core area were proposed to be relocated. Agriculture, animal husbandry, collection of NTFPs, Labour work etc. were the main occupation. Irrigation facilities were not properly developed. The intricate relationship of the tribal with forest was remarkable. They fully depend on forest for housing, fencing material, fodder, wild fruits and agricultural implements.    2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  2015  2016  POPULATION  121  143  203  215  219  310  352  349  616  844 Habitat used for agriculture: Wild habitat used for agriculture was the biggest threat for Chital population due to habitat degradation. Mukandra Hills Tiger Reserve is open grassland with adjacent dense forest and hills also and is used for agriculture in and around the villages with fertile land. The natural habitat is degraded due to agricultural activities and hence Chital population is restricted in small patches of study area.

Deforestation:
Forest plays very important role in management of natural habitat environment. Deforestation is the major cause of habitat degradation and environmental destruction. People living in villages inside and around study area exerts tremendous pressure on forest for timber and fuel wood. Exploitation of important resources such as fodder for their livestock is another major threat to quality of habitat used by Chital.

Chital and livestock:
Local people in study area have a very high livestock population mostly buffalo, goat and cow. Milk of these animals was the main source of their income. These domesticated animals were fully dependent on scrubland and grassland for fodder which was the main foraging area for Chital also. Thus livestock living inside and around the study area were the tough competitor for grazing to Chital.

Poaching and Hunting:
Human have been exploited wild animals for game from past decades and centuries and now commercialization of hunting has triggered the wildlife depletion rapidly. Chital population had decreased due to excessive poaching throughout the country during early twentieth century but poaching has been strictly banned in late twentieth century under the laws (Abson and Termansen, 2010). Poaching caused reduction in Chital population especially in hunting dominated area inside the study area. Reduction in population size negatively affects the wildlife tourism spots.

Pollution:
Pollution was also a major threat for study area due to anthropogenic activities caused by human settlements living in and around study area. Climatic change in environment plays important role in degradation of biodiversity and hence chital population also degraded due to use of fuel wood, burning of waste and increased transportation (Anand et al., 2010).

Conclusions:-
Wildlife biodiversity has been a crucial link in survival of human and hence an important subject of research. Wildlife species such as Chital were under severe pressure due to human settlements in and around study area hence effective conservation and management of wild animals is of great importance. The future of Chital population depends on interaction between livestock and Chital population. Demographic variation in Chital distribution also affected the Chital population. Due to threats observed in study area by human settlements local communities and forest department must develop a model for natural habitat management for conservation of Chital population in the study area.