Ecological Niche Overlap between Himalayan Ibex and Livestock in the Jispa Valley of Trans Himalayan Landscape, Himachal Pradesh, India

The issue of livestock grazing poses a significant challenge to the long-term viability of wild ungulates. During the summer season, the Jispa valley of Lahaul and Spiti regions of Himachal experience a significant influx of migratory livestock and coexist and share habitat with the Himalayan Ibex. In the current study, employed the classification of Landsat 8 imagery to determine the land cover land use classes. The image classification achieved an overall accuracy of 82.96% and κ statistic value of 0.81. Species distribution of the Himalayan Ibex and livestock were performed using the Maxent modelling approach, with the utilisation of land cover classes and topographic parameters. The results of the identity test Schoener’s D and Warren’s I, demonstrate a noteworthy degree of overlap between the Himalayan ibex and livestock. Additionally, the Schoener’s D and Warren’s I background test indicates that the environmental conditions for Himalayan ibex and livestock are not entirely equivalent. Present study suggests the implementation of effective conservation plan to manage livestock and grazing areas for long-term survival of the wild ungulate species in the study landscape.