OPPORTUNISTIC OCCURRENCE, SIGNIFICANCE AND CONSERVATION IMPLICATIONS OF TRICHO-MORPHOMETRICS: LARGE WILD HERBIVORES OF CHANG CHENMO VALLEY,

* Vinita Sharma 1,3 , Mohd. Raza 2 , Khursheed Ahmed 2 , Parag Nigam 3 , Anjara Anjum Khan 2 , Chandra Prakash Sharma 3 , Vipin Sharma 3 and Surendra Prakash Goyal 3 . 1. Central University of Jammu, Department of Animal Sciences and Wildlife, Central University of Jammu, Rahya-Suchani (Bagla), District – Samba, Jammu – 181143, Jammu and Kashmir, India. 2. Centre for Mountain Wildlife Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India-190006. 3. Wildlife Institute of India, Post Box # 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India-248001. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History

The Chang Chenmo Valley (CCV) region, in the northern part of Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary (CWLS), along with the Daulet Beg Oldi (DBO) area of Karakoram (Nubra-Shyok) Wildlife Sanctuary (KNSWLS), in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, forms the western-most range of the TP within the administrative boundaries of India. The CCV region was extensively surveyed for the large wild herbivore species of the TP ecosystem. The survey was based on direct and indirect evidence such as faecal matter, pellets and hair in the present study. Trichomorphometric characteristics (qualitative and quantitative) of five large wild herbivores encountered in the study area were used to identify species and determine the EOO and other conservation implications in CCV. Present and previous studies (Shawl et al., 2011) justify the immediate development of a trans-boundary habitat management action plan that helps conserve the habitat of large wild herbivore species across the TP.

Study area
The study was carried out during August-October, 2013 in CCV (Fig. 1). The study area is a south-western extension of the TP (Alfred et al., 2006;Shawl and Takpa, 2009), located on the border between India and China (Shawl et al., 2011). Geographically, it is situated between 78˚07'00" E to 79˚00'00" E longitudes and 33˚55'00" N to 34˚39'00" N latitudes. The altitude ranges between 3700 and 5500 metres above the sea level (Sarkar et al., 2008). The area is drained by the Chang Chenmo and Kurgrung rivers (Meinertzhagen, 1927;Shawl and Takpa, 2009;Shawl et al., 2011). It bounded by the Silung Burma on the east, the Silung Yogma on the west, low hills on the north and hill ranges on the south (Shawl and Tapka, 2009;Shawl et al., 2011) (Fig. 1). The area is characterized by steep, rugged mountains, narrow gorges and wide open valleys surrounded by open, rolling sandy mountains in the east and undulating rugged terrain in the north and south. The temperature ranges from 0° to 30° C in summer and from -10°C to -40°C in winter (Mishra and Humbert-Droz 1998). The vegetation of the region is characterized as dry alpine steppe (Champion and Seth, 1968). The area falls within Durbuk Block, which was earlier used by the nomadic pastoralists of Phobrang and adjacent areas. The area has representative components of the Ladakh Trans-Himalayan ecosystem, which is the most fragile and hardy ecosystem, having a unique, diverse and rare assemblage of high-altitude wildlife species (Fox et. al., 1991;Vinod and Sathyakumar, 1999;Rodgers et al., 2000;Namgail, 2009;Shawl and Takpa, 2009). It is an important habitat for the endangered Tibetan antelope outside China (Shawl and Takpa, 2009;Shawl et al., 2011). It also provides a habitat for the Tibetan argali, wild yak, kiang, blue sheep, Himalayan marmot, Tibetan woolly hare, red fox, Tibetan wolf and snow leopard (Meinertzhagen, 1927;Chundawat and Qureshi, 1999;Shawl and Takpa, 2009;Namgail et al., 2010).

Collection of hair samples:-
Hair found opportunistically stuck on bushes and shed naturally near resting sites and track was collected during the survey. Hair was also collected from carcasses. Fine-tip forceps were used to collect the hair samples, which were transferred to transparent ziplock packets for analysis and geo-referenced accordingly.

Tricho-morphometric analysis:-
The characteristics of guard hairs are known to differ from one mammalian species to another (Brunner and Coman, 1974;Kondo, 2000). The morphological characteristics of the cuticle and medulla of a guard hair can be used to identify the species (Brunner and Coman, 1974;Kondo, 2000, Taru et al., 2013. The tricho-morphometric approach was used to identify species and assess the presence and assemblage of species in the CCV (Table. 1). All the hair samples (n=43) were macroscopically screened for the presence of guard hairs. At least five guard hairs per sample were analyzed according to established protocols (Sahajpal et al., 2009;Bahuguna et al., 2010). The macroscopic and microscopic hair characteristics were studied to assess the biological origin (Sahajpal et al., 2009;Bahuguna et al., 2010). Both qualitative and quantitative (macroscopic and microscopic) hair characteristics ( Table 2) of each hair were recorded. The colour, shape and texture of each guard hair were noted. The morphological characteristics (cuticular pattern, including the scale margin, scale distance and scale pattern, and medullary patterns) were observed and photo-micrographed using a comparison microscope (Leica DMR). The hair thickness and medulla thickness were determined. The medullary index was calculated using the following formula:

Medullary Index (MI) = Hair Thickness (MT)
Hair Thickness (HT) The observed tricho-morphometric characteristics were compared with those of reference slides in the hair repository of the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. The quantitative data were statistically analysed. A threedimensional scatter plot between HT, MT and MI was generated using SPSS version 19.0 (IBM, 2010).

Results and discussion:-
A total of five large wild herbivore species were sighted in the CCV during the study period. Four of these belong to the order Artiodactyla and one belongs to the order Perissodactyla (Table 1). All five species are conservationreliant and significant components of the TP ecosystem. The occurrence of these species reveals the conservation importance of the area. The status of a landscape and its ecosystem can be determined by evaluating the distribution pattern of the large herbivores of the area. Guard hairs could be obtained from 39 samples of the 43 hair samples that were collected from CCV. Thus, the success rate of getting dorsal guard hairs for tricho-morphometric analysis from opportunistically found hair samples was 90.7%. The relative frequency of occurrence of hairs of large wild herbivore species in randomly collected hair samples (n=39) from the CCV region was Equus kiang (74.4%) > Pantholops hodgsonii (10.3%) > Ovis ammon hodgsonii (7.7%) > Pseudois nayaur (5.1%) > Bos mutus (2.6%) ( Table 2). Details of the qualitative and quantitative hair characteristics are provided in Table 3. Photo-micrographs of the cuticular scale casts and medullary patterns are shown in Figure 2.
High-altitude mammals have characteristic wavy and kinky hair along with peculiar brittleness (Sahajpal, 2009). Hair of P. hodgsonii, P. nayaur, O. a. hodgsonii and has the characteristics kinks, while these are absent in the hair of B. mutus and E. kiang ( Table 3). The cuticle scale margins are crenate in B. mutus and smooth in the other four species (Table 3). The cuticle scales were close in O. a. hodgsonii, B. mutus and E. kiang, while they were far apart in P. hodgsonii and P. nayaur ( Table 3). The value of HT was greatest in O. a. hodgsonii, followed by P. nayaur, E. kiang, P. hodgsonii. It was least in B. mutus. The value of MT was greatest in hairs of O. a. hodgsonii, followed by P. nayaur, E. kiang and P. hodgsonii, being least in B. mutus. The highest value of MI of guard hairs was observed in P. hodgsonii and O. a. hodgsonii, followed by E. kiang, and the lowest value was in B. mutus. The three-dimensional scatter plot generated between HT, MT and MI also shows a distinct demarcation between the hair characteristics of the five large wild herbivore species found study area (Fig. 3).
Our tricho-morphometric studies confirm the presence of five large wild herbivore species, namely the Tibetan antelope (P. hodgsonii), the blue sheep (P. nayaur), the Tibetan argali (O. a. hodgsonii), the wild yak (B. mutus) and the Tibetan wild ass (E. kiang) in the study area. The distinct characteristics allow discrimination of these five species. It is evident from the present study that tricho-morphometry play a significant role in identifying the biological origin of the species and indirectly confirm the presence of species in an area. The results of the present study also support the findings of previous studies (Mallon, 1998;Bhatnagar et al. 2007;Namgail, 2009;Shawl and Takpa, 2009;Namgail et al., 2010). Although some studies have been conducted previously (Mallon, 1998;Bhatnagar et al. 2007;Namgail, 2009;Shawl and Takpa, 2009;Namgail et al., 2010) to assess the assemblage of species, this was the first time an attempt was made using the tricho-morphometric approach. The present study highlights the significance of tricho-morphometry in identifying species from opportunistically found hair samples and assessing the biological diversity of an area. The present study confirms the presence of the species identified and supports the determination of the worldwide distribution range of these threatened species in the TP. Therefore, we suggest hair be collected along with GPS locations during surveys undertaken for direct evidence in inhospitable habitats for subsequent use in estimating the relative abundance and occupancy. The trichomorphometry of the mountain ungulates that has been described may also be very useful in studies undertaken to determine predator-prey relationships.