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Habitat Characteristics and Their Effects on the Density of Groups of Western Hoolock Gibbon (Hoolock hoolock) in Namdapha National Park, Arunachal Pradesh, India

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Abstract

Understanding the relationship between a species and its habitat is crucial for conservation action planning. The Endangered western hoolock gibbon (Hoolock hoolock) has a fragmented distribution in northeast India, Bangladesh and parts of western Myanmar. Namdapha National Park in Arunachal Pradesh contains the largest population of western hoolock gibbons in India. We carried out an auditory sampling survey and habitat analysis of western hoolock gibbons in the park from September to December 2012 in three potentially suitable forest types: tropical broad-leaved forest, tropical wet evergreen forest, and wet temperate forest. A new method of analysis of singing frequency revealed that only 21–23% of groups sing per day. Group detectability declined sharply beyond a listening radius of 600 m. Auditory sampling across 15 listening areas revealed an estimated mean density of 3.65 groups km−2. We found no significant differences in density among forest types. The habitat study revealed a total of 122 species of trees (girth at breast height ≥30 cm) in the three forest types, representing 73 genera in 41 families, with the highest number of tree species in wet evergreen forest (93) followed by tropical broad-leaved forest (52) and wet temperate forest (40). None of the vegetation traits we measured (mean canopy cover, girth, density, and total basal area of all trees) and no habitat disturbance factors correlated significantly with gibbon density. This lack of correlation may have been due to the prevailing anthropogenic effects that adversely affected gibbons and their habitat, such as forest degradation, road widening, and hunting, overriding the relatively smaller natural variation in vegetation. This study adds to our knowledge of the habitat requirements of hoolock gibbons and indicates that Namdapha National Park is more important to conservation of the western hoolock than previously thought.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department, PCCF (Wildlife & Biodiversity Conservation) and Field Director of Namdapha National Park for providing necessary permission and logistic support to carry out this work. Funding was kindly provided by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) New Delhi, India and The Idea Wild Grant, USA. Our Research team also thanks the Director of NERIST and HoD, Forestry, for administrative support. Special thanks to Mr. Tajum Yomcha, Research Officer of Namdapha National Park, and our field assistants Mr. Biranjay Basumatary, Erebo Chakma, Goleh Chakma, Tinku Chakma for their constant assistance during the field survey. We are very thankful for the valuable suggestions and comments on our manuscript by two reviewers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forestry, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science & Technology, Nirjuli, 791 109, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India

    Parimal Chandra Ray, Awadhesh Kumar & Murali C. Krishna

  2. Department of Environmental Science, Tezpur University, Napam, 784 028, Tezpur, Assam, India

    Ashalata Devi

  3. Department of Botany, Dr. Hari Singh Gour Central University, Sagar, 470 003, Madhya Pradesh, India

    M. L. Khan

  4. Ecology Lab, Bioresources Technology Unit, Science Park, Klong Luang, Pathum Thani, 12120, Thailand

    W. Y. Brockelman

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  1. Parimal Chandra Ray
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Correspondence to Awadhesh Kumar.

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Ray, P.C., Kumar, A., Devi, A. et al. Habitat Characteristics and Their Effects on the Density of Groups of Western Hoolock Gibbon (Hoolock hoolock) in Namdapha National Park, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Int J Primatol 36, 445–459 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-015-9834-4

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