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Collation of Indigenous and Local Knowledge as Evidence Base for Herpetofauna Conservation Outside Protected Areas: Case Study from an Agricultural Landscape in Eastern India

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Abstract

Systematic appraisal of community’s knowledge as evidence for biodiversity conservation has been widely recognized. For conserving the rich biodiversity in the rural landscape outside the protected areas, it is important to document the knowledge and perception of the farming community. Although such appraisal is available for different taxa, no such systematic study is available for herpetofauna- one of the most vulnerable faunal groups. Our study attempts to document the impact of agricultural intensification on herpetofauna in an agricultural landscape through knowledge and perception appraisal of the farming community. A semi-structured questionnaire survey and validation was conducted in areas of low, medium, and high agricultural intensification. In all areas, farmers indicated an overall decrease in herpetofauna abundance. Farmers at the mid and high agricultural intensification zones reported a more significant decrease in herpetofauna sightings specifically for amphibians and snakes compared to those under low intensification regions. Farmers at low intensification area recognized significantly more herpetofauna. Farmers attributed five major threats to herpetofauna and ranked pesticide as the most significant reason, especially those in higher intensification. The majority were aware of the importance of herpetofauna as a biological pest control agent. Level of education or farming experience did not seem to have any influence on the farmers’ knowledge. Our findings integrated with other quantitative studies will facilitate future community-driven conservation in the studied agricultural landscapes.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the farming community of Balasore district, Odisha, for their participation and our field assistant for the support. We thank the Department of Zoology, the University of Calcutta for providing all the necessary requirements for the work. This work has been a part of research funded by Rufford Small Grant (Application Id. 18506-1)

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  1. Department of Zoology, University of Calcutta, 35, Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata, 700-019, India

    Deyatima Ghosh & Parthiba Basu

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  1. Deyatima Ghosh
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  2. Parthiba Basu
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Both the authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Deyatima Ghosh. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Deyatima Ghosh and both authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. Both the authors read and approved the final manuscript. Concept- PB & DG, Data collection-DG, Analysis- DG & PB, Write-up- PB & DG.

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Correspondence to Parthiba Basu.

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S1 Figure

Schematic representation of applying the inter-reliability test between herpetofauna recognition checklist from each village and from the two validation groups. S1 Table Inter-reliability between data for herpetofauna recognition checklist from each village and the two validation groups

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Ghosh, D., Basu, P. Collation of Indigenous and Local Knowledge as Evidence Base for Herpetofauna Conservation Outside Protected Areas: Case Study from an Agricultural Landscape in Eastern India. Proc Zool Soc 75, 161–172 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12595-021-00386-2

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