Abstract
The Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) in Islamabad, Pakistan, is an important site for the conservation of many plants and animals. The present study aimed to determine the status of fauna diversity and richness, and environmental threats to the animals. A field study was conducted and the point count method was used to determine vertebrate diversity. The survey showed that the MHNP is home to 117 species of birds, 27 reptiles (including species such as the saw–scaled viper, Russell’s viper and the Indian cobra) and 30 mammalian species, such as barking deer, wild boar, golden jackal, red fox, Asiatic leopards, monkeys, fruit bats, and pangolins. The results showed a maximum count of 9,076 birds of 117 species belonging to 48 families. According to the Islamabad wildlife management board, one of the unique species, the grey goral (Nemorhaedus goral), has become extinct at the MHNP as no single specimen has been recorded since 2018. It was also been observed, however, that the numbers of the endangered species of common leopard (Panthera pardus) and pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) have increased, possibly due to the wildlife management board’s strategy for conservation. Nevertheless, greater conservation and protection of wild fauna at the MHNP is still needed. During the visits, threats such as habitat degradation, climate change, and over hunting were recorded. Dataset published through GBIF (Doi: 10.15470/hf1s9i)
Highlights
Biodiversity, which includes fauna, flora, and micro–organisms, is the abundance of living creatures found on earth
Extensive latitudinal spread, and colossal altitudinal range, Pakistan sustains a notable number of the world's environmental zones. These range from the coastal mangrove forests of the Arabian Sea to the majestic Karakorum peaks of the Western Himalayas and the Hindu Kush mountain range (Khan, 2002). These habitats support a large variety of species, such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, plants, and invertebrates, all of which play a substantial role in the biodiversity of the Indian subcontinent and Pakistan (Shannon, 1948; Grimmett et al, 2008, 2016)
The Margalla Hills National Park is a wildlife sanctuary that was upgraded to the status of national park in 1980 under the wildlife act
Summary
Biodiversity, which includes fauna, flora, and micro–organisms, is the abundance of living creatures found on earth. Extensive latitudinal spread, and colossal altitudinal range, Pakistan sustains a notable number of the world's environmental zones These range from the coastal mangrove forests of the Arabian Sea to the majestic Karakorum peaks of the Western Himalayas and the Hindu Kush mountain range (Khan, 2002). Pakistan's unique fauna includes 198 freshwater fish (29 endemic, 1 threatened), 668 avifauna (25 threatened), 177 reptiles (13 endemic, 6 threatened), and 174 mammals (6 endemic, 20 threatened) (Khan and Mirza, 1977; Anonymous, 2003) It has some of the world's unique and enigmatic species, such as the Indus dolphin, the western tragopan, the snow leopard, and the markhor (Anonymous, 2003). The aim of the study was to estimate vertebrate diversity and abundance in the MHNP in order to provide biodiversity researchers with updated data concerning the threats faced by vertebrate species therein
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