Assessing The Extent Of Habitat Overlap And Resource Partitioning Between Ibex And Livestock In Khyber valley Pakistan

Abstract

Ibex and livestock distribution and habitat preferences were assessed using ecological niche factor analysis (ENFA). The study area was divided into 45 grid cells of 500 x 500 m pixels. Ibex and livestock were documented to occupy 30.61% and 26.5% of the study area, respectively, from June to November. Male and female ibex showed significant sexual segregation during this period. From November to May, male ibex occupied 32.6% of the study area and female ibex 34%. Livestock occupied 19% of the study area from June to September and 14.2% from September to May. The ENFA results indicated that both ibex and livestock show selective habitat preferences but are selecting for the same resources. The first two principal components (PCs) explained 49.3% and 17.88% of the variation in the data, respectively. The first PC was related to distance to settlements, distance to rivers, distance to roads, and rangelands. The second PC was related to rangelands and snow covers. The biplot of ENFA differentiated available habitats from habitat used (by ibex/livestock) through shades of grey, where light grey areas correspond to all the available habitat and dark grey area represented the used area (ecological niche of the animal). The ENFA plot indicated that though ibex and livestock have selective approach towards habitat usage, but selecting for the same resources