Prakash Rai
In this study we try to find out the distribution of threatened golden langur and capped langur for the conservation of its habitat. Delineating the potential distribution will let the decision makers to effectively manage the habitat of this animals. The study will be also a baseline data for the distribution of this mammals. The project has strong focus on awareness programs through focus group discussion with the community who share close habitat with this species.
Golden langur at it’s natural habitat.
Ecological niche modelling (ENM) is a very recent tool used in the different fields such as biodiversity conservation, climate change, evolution, etc. ENM make use of statistical formula and machine learning algorithms to model the distribution of different species. This method will let us cover large area which may not be possible through ground survey on foot. In Bhutan there are not much information on the distribution of golden langur and capped langur. For the conservation of this species it is very important to know its proper distribution. Knowing the proper distribution of this animals will let us effectively protect their habitat and in turn increase their population in the wild. The study also tries to find out some of the threat to the current population of this mammals.
The occurrence data for modelling will be collected through field visit, literatures and online sources such as GBIF (www.gibif.org). The environmental data will be also collected through the online sources such as Climond (https://www.climond.org/) and WorldClim (http://www.worldclim.org/). The open source software R x64 3.5.1 (https://www.r-project.org/), ERDAS 2015 Imagine and ArcGIS 10.5 will be used in the construction of the model. The result of the project will be extremely useful to the decision makers and the conservationist for the protection of this two magnificent species.