Subscribe
A new study in PLOS One finds that the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard could reclaim parts of the Deccan if traditional, low-intensity agriculture is revived.
Modelling shows only 6.6% of the 7,20,000 sq km landscape remains suitable, with 16 priority sites identified.
Researchers stress conserving fallow lands, mixed crops and grasslands to enable reintroduction and population recovery.
The critically endangered Great Indian Bustard (GIB) has vanished from most of the Indian Subcontinent, especially the Deccan Plateau. But it has a chance of making a comeback there, provided traditional agriculture and land use are resorted to, according to a new study.
The paper, titled In Search of Safe Havens: Identifying priority conservation areas for a critically endangered bird, the Great Indian Bustard, in the Deccan Landscape of India, has been published on August 14 in the journal PLOS One. It is authored by wildlife biologists Shaheer Khan, Gautam Talukdar and Bilal Habib from the Wildlife Institute of India.
The researchers modelled a probability distribution map and identified priority conservation areas for the GIB in the Deccan landscape. The study found that out of the 7,20,000 km2 Area of the Deccan Landscape, only 48,000 km2 (6.6 per cent) was suitable for the species using various environmental and climatic variables.
Sixteen critical sites that totalled 18,000 km2, ranging from 144 to 8496 km2, were also identified as priority conservation areas by conducting a landscape-level survey and species distribution modelling.
The Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps), a critically endangered species per the International Union for Conservation of Nature Redlist, is a large, ground-dwelling bird primarily found in the arid and semi-arid grasslands of India.
It was once found in 11 states in India and parts of Pakistan (mostly southern). The population went down rapidly at the end of the 19th century.
The most current estimate places the population in a range between 100 and 150 individuals.
“The largest population of GIB is found in Rajasthan, and the remaining states, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, have 10-15 individuals. The bird has completely disappeared from the northern parts of India, and the current populations of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh (Deccan landscape) are at a high risk of local extinction. Studies have documented a sharp population decline, with the Deccan landscape identified as one of the most severely affected regions. The previous GIB estimates in the landscape were 200-390 individuals in 1989, which decreased to 66-75 individuals in 2008,” the paper notes.
According to the authors, the decrease in GIB numbers is mainly due to habitat depletion, rapidly growing irrigation networks, changes in traditional agricultural practices, and an increase in human activities in GIB-bearing areas.
“The landscape is experiencing rapid conversion of agricultural lands and a significant loss of grassland habitats has been observed due to various anthropogenic factors. In addition, farmers have been shifting to cash crop production from the traditional farming of pulses and oilseeds. The conversion of grasslands and shrublands into agricultural land, along with their use for plantation drives, has made these ecosystems prime targets for development projects. Excessive use of insecticides and pesticides, overgrazing, urbanisation, feral dog population, and powerline expansion are also contributing to the decline of GIB populations,” the paper noted.
The GIB has extremely low genetic variability and a strong population bottleneck. The present population is small and in isolated pockets.
This isolation, say the authors, will lead to inbreeding depression and could result in local extinction.
“Larger and more connected populations are needed to safeguard GIB in the future. For the conservation of the species, identifying areas where intensive conservation measures should be implemented is essential to conserving the species and habitat to ensure GIB survival,” notes the paper.
But here lies the problem. Though the GIB is critically endangered, its habitat requirements are poorly understood, hindering its conservation.
The authors scouted the distribution of the GIB across the Deccan. This was spread across the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh.
“We assigned suitable habitats for GIB based on equal test sensitivity and specificity logistic threshold. We found that approximately 48,000 km2 (6.6%) of the total land area of the Deccan landscape is suitable for GIB. The potential suitable areas of Deccan landscapes were distributed in 35 districts (22 in Maharashtra, six in Karnataka and Telangana, and one in Andhra Pradesh),” they wrote.
Priority conservation areas from different regions of the Deccan landscape were identified, ranging from 144-8496 km2 at 16 sites by using landscape-level surveys and distribution modelling.
The identified priority conservation areas were dominated by fallow lands (28.6 per cent), kharif crops (24.3 per cent), mixed crops (18.8 per cent), and grasslands (11.6 per cent).
“The modelling showed that GIB presence is strongly influenced by temperature, precipitation, vegetation cover, and human population density, with higher habitat suitability in regions practicing traditional cropping systems, such as Solapur and Osmanabad. In these areas, farmers typically maintain a mix of cultivated and fallow lands, either due to climatic constraints, crop loss, or low economic returns, which creates a mosaic of habitats that GIBs extensively use,” according to the paper.
But over the past century, there has been a substantial loss of grasslands and other open habitats due to agricultural expansion, infrastructure growth, and rapid shifts from traditional food-crop systems to cash crops like sugarcane and cotton.
“This widespread transition across the dryland regions of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh has reduced the availability of fallow lands and altered the open landscapes critical for GIB survival. The resulting habitat changes have had major ecological consequences for species dependent on these open ecosystems, underscoring the urgency of conserving remnant traditional agricultural landscapes for the GIB,” Khan, Talukdar and Habib noted.
They added that although the population in this landscape has declined sharply, the habitat itself remains relatively less degraded compared to other parts of the species’ range, making it a strong candidate for future reintroduction and population recovery efforts.
“Promoting traditional, low-intensity land-use practices can further enhance habitat suitability and support the species’ ecological requirements,” they concluded.