Researchers Develop New Index To Calculate Pressure Of Human Activities On Wildlife

A team of Indian wildlife researchers, conservationists and forest officials have come up with a "Human Disturbance Index" which helps to map and calculate how human activities effect biodiversity in wildlife parks and reserves.

"The index allows quantification of human pressures. We have presented the methodology in the book so that officials in any park can use it, improve it and standardise it and apply it for conservation and management," said G.V. Reddy, Chief Wildlife Warden of Rajasthan and one of the authors, to IANS, reported The Times Of India.

The technique computes the "quantum of disturbance" by taking into consideration nine parameters and seven indices like the number of trees cut, grazing etc.

Detailing about the new index, Reddy said if the species number have gone down in a particular area it means that the area of study is highly disturbed by human activities, if some species have gone up and some have gone down, it means that the area is medium disturbed and if there is a good number of species in an area, it indicates the area is highly protected.

Krithi Karanth, co-author of the book, said results clearly indicate human interventions have cascading effects on forest structure as well as function and also results in biodiversity loss.

The research team also discussed how protected areas are the strongest sources for conserving varied forms of biodiversity in India.

"We also recorded biodiversity responses to management interventions and found that quality of biodiversity was highest in highly protected and moderately protected areas," said Karanth, reported IANS.

The "Human Disturbance Index" has been presented in the book 'Recovering Biodiversity in Indian Forests' published as part of the Springer Briefs Series. The Springer Briefs Series offers information about the impact of cutting-edge science and practical applications across various fields,

The authors of the book are Reddy, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) India Program scientists - Ullas Karanth, Samba Kumar and Krithi Karanth, and Jagdish Krishnaswamy from Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE). The book is expected to come out at the end of this month.