Abstract
The chapter throws light on a broad spectrum of the climate in Rajasthan ranging from arid and semiarid to subhumid types with an annual rainfall of less than 100 mm in the western Thar to more than 1,000 mm in eastern Rajasthan and their impacts on the faunal ecology. The pressure of human and livestock population is also one of the causative factors for scarcity of land and water resources. The drought year is often followed by good rainfall years. The impact of industrialization, urbanization, mining of minerals and oil, etc., on the interrelationship of fauna and the fast changing climatic conditions have been also discussed. For arid Rajasthan, global circulation model (GCM) predicts more hot days as well as warmer nights. This chapter concludes that changing climate and environment can lead to faunal migration or habitat loss or may even alter their adaptive capacity to new environments.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Rao AS (1992) Climate, climatic changes and Paleo-climatic aspects of Rajasthan. In: Sharma HS, Sharma ML (eds) Geographical facets of Rajasthan. Kuldeep Publications, Ajmer, pp 38–44
IMD Report (1981) Sunshine and computed solar radiation over India. India Meteorological Department, Pune, p 29
IMD Report (2009) Estimation of weekly potential evapotranspiration and climatic soil water balance for 144 stations of India. Agrimet Div. India Meteorological Department, New Delhi, p 603
Agrawal DP, Dhir RP, Krishnamurthy RV, Misra VN, Nanda SC, Rajaguru SN (1978) Multiple evidence for climatic change in Rajasthan. In: Maan HS (ed) Arid zone research and development. Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur, pp 1–18
Singh G, Joshi RD, Chopra SK, Singh AB (1974) Late-quaternary history of vegetation and climate of Rajasthan Desert, vol 267. Phil Trans Roy Soc, London, p 889
Pant GB, Maliekal JA (1987) Holocene climate changes over north-west India: an appraisal. Climatic Change 10:183–194
Singh G (1971) The Indus valley culture seen in the context of post-glacial climatic and ecological studies in north-west India. Archeol Phys Anthropol Oceania 6:177–189
Wilson CA, Mitchell JFB (1987) A doubled CO2 climate sensitivity experiment with a global climate model including a simple ocean. J Geophys Res 92:13315–13343
IPCC (1990/2007) Climatic Change: The IPCC Scientific assessment: Report prepared for IPCC-1990 by Working Group for World Meteorological Organization/United Nations Environment Program
Houghten JT, Jenkins GJ, Ephraums JJ (1990) Climatic change. The IPCC Scientific Assessment WMO/UNEP, Cambridge, UK
Winstanley D (1973) Recent rainfall trends in Africa, the Middle East and India. Nature 243:464–465
Winstanley D (1973) Rainfall patterns and general atmospheric circulation. Nature 245:190–194
Pant CB, Hingane LS (1988) Climatic changes in and around the Rajasthan Desert during the 20th century. J Climatol 8:391–401
Rao AS (1996) Climatic changes in the irrigated tracts of Indira Gandhi Canal Region of arid western Rajasthan. Ann Arid Zone 35(2):111–116
Rao AS, Miyazaki T (1997) Influence of climatic changes on Desertification in the Osian (Jodhpur) region of the Indian arid zone. J Arid Land Studies 7(1):1–11
Rao AS (2005) Impact of introduction of IGNP canal irrigation on Micro and Secular changes in Climate of Thar desert region. In: Tyagi BK, Baqri QH (eds) Changing faunal ecology in the Thar desert, vol 3. Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur, pp 37–44
Rao AS (2009) Climate and microclimate changes influencing the Fauna of the Hot Indian Arid Zone. In: Sivaperuman C, Baqri QH, Ramaswamy G, Naseema M (eds) Faunal ecology and conservation of the great Indian desert. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 13–24
Dockery DW, Schwartz J, Spengler JD (1992) Air pollution and daily mortality: associations with particulates and acid aerosols. Environ Res 59:362–373
Pope CA, Schwartz J, Ransom MR (1992) Daily mortality and PM-10 pollution in Utah valley. Arch Environ Health 47:211–217
Chakraborthy S, Agrawal VC, Kazmi SL (2005) Mammalian diversity in the Thar desert of Rajasthan. In: Tyagi BK, Baqri QH (eds) Changing faunal ecology in the Thar desert, vol 12. Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur, pp 231–266
Gosh PK, Goyal SP, Prakash I (1979) Metabolism and eco-physiology of Rajasthan desert rodents: Thermoregulation at a moderately low temperature (21°C) during winter. J Arid Environ 2:77–83
Goyal SP, Ghosh PK, Prakasah I (1981) Significance of body fat in relation to basal metabolic rate in some Indian desert rodents. J Arid Environ 4:59–62
Mackay WP, Soilva Winghfoot DC, Pagani MI, Whitford WG (1986) Effect of increased soil moisture and reduced soil temperature on a desert soil arthropod community. Am Midl Nat 116:45–56
Walter G Wilford (2001) Invertebrates: their effects on the properties and processes of desert ecosystems. In: Prakash I (ed) Ecology of desert environments. Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur, pp 333–356
Faysal T Adbushama (2001) Temperature reaction of desert Tenebrionid beetles. In: Prakash I (ed) Ecology of desert environments. Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur
Prakash I (2001) Survival strategies of desert vertebrates. In: Prakash I (ed) Ecology of desert environments. Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur, India, pp 459–471
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rao, A.S., Sharma, B.K. (2013). Climate and Other Environmental Factors Influencing Faunal Ecology of Rajasthan. In: Sharma, B., Kulshreshtha, S., Rahmani, A. (eds) Faunal Heritage of Rajasthan, India. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01345-9_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01345-9_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-01344-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-01345-9
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)