Contribution of bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus) in the diet of ungulates of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra, India
Student name: Ms Asha
Guide: Dr Sudipta Chatterjee
Year of completion: 2018
Host Organisation: Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Dr Bilal Habib
Abstract: The study was conducted in Tadoba Andheri Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra, India. The reserve area harbors varied landscapes from grasslands to dry tropical deciduous forest to mixed bamboo and water bodies, among all landscapes mixed bamboo dominates the reserve area. There is only one species of bamboo that is found here, Dendrocalamus strictus. The bamboo species found here not only dominates the area but also forms the major proportion of herbivores diet. Bamboo has unique life with respect to its reproductive phase, the grass flowers once in a life time and then dies off; therefore even after not being a threatened or endangered flora it is highly concerned. D. strictus has a life cycle of 40-45 years; the bamboo in TATR is expected to flower in 2019 after which there could be an impact on food availability to herbivores. The work was based on microhistological analyses of bamboo contribution in the diet of three ungulate species Chital (Axis axis), Sambar (Rusa unicolor) and Gaur (Bos gaurus) in TATR. Diet analysis was done by calculating percent contribution and relative frequency of different floral species compared for three ranges of core area; Moharli, Tadoba and Kolsa. The focussed floral species in the diet was D. strictus. Two way ANOVA was performed among the species and among the ranges to see the significant variance of D. strictus and other diet samples. Relative frequency showed that D. strictus contributes most in the diet of all three species of ungulates in all ranges except for Chital in Tadoba. ANOVA depicted significant difference in diet samples of ungulates irrespective of ranges and species. The results depicted that D. strictus contributes most to the diet of Gaur in Moharli followed by Sambar in Tadoba and Kolsa and Chital was found to feed on bamboo least in Tadoba.
Keywords: Dendrocalamus strictus, Microhistology, Relative
frequency, Tadoba Andheri Tiger Reserve, Ungulates
