Human Impact on Wildlife and Wildlife Habitats in Maenam Wildlife Sanctuary in Sikkim Himalaya

Abstract

I conducted my research on"Human Impact on Wildlife and Wildlife Habitatsin Maenam Wildlife Sanctuary in Sikkim Himalaya" South Sikkim,which is highly disturbed in and around human settled areas and relatively undisturbed in the core area. The specific objectives of my research were to: a) explore vegetation structure, b) occurrence, abundance, and diversity of birds andmammals,c) compare them in disturbed and undisturbed sites, andd) assess human disturbances. I usedboth field survey and questionnaire methods for enumeration of vegetation, birds, mammals, and their conditions in the disturbed and undisturbed sites.Vegetation data were collected by taking four random samples of 20×20 mplots in each disturbed and undisturbed sites,while birds and mammals were counted in two line transects of two kilometerseach.Undisturbed site had higher number of tree species and tree density thandisturbed site.Thesignificant differenceof meannumber of treesbetween thedisturbed and undisturbed sitesindicatedhuman impact on vegetation structure.I recorded thirty-sevenbirdspecies belonging tonineteen families during thefield survey.Thedisturbed site had significantly higher (t=2.92, df=2, p=0.05)number of birdspecies than the undisturbed site. Fifteen mammalian species were recorded from both disturbed and undisturbed sites.The undisturbed sitehad highernumber of mammalian species than the disturbed site, but the meandifference was not significant(t=2.29, df=2, p=0.05). The collection off irewood was the highestduring winterand the lowest during summerdue to the variation inconsumption, which wasthehighest in Ravangla. The lowestconsumption of firewood was inMangzing.Similarly, fodder collection fromthe forestwasthe highestduring winter,whilethe lowestduring summerwhenavailability is higher in the farms.Lingmooextractedthe highest fodder fromthe forest, while Ravangla extracted the least, which were based on theirrespective distance from the Sanctuary. Major human disturbances in Maenam Wildlife Sanctuary include firewood extraction and fodder collection. This study showed that human disturbances,and availability of resources can increase the species richness of birds while suitable area is necessary for mammals for their abundance.