VARSITY GETS PROJECT ON GREAT INDIAN BUSTARD SURVEY

The Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology (DST) has sanctioned a research project of the zoology department at Jai Narain Vyas University, under which the population assessment of Great Indian Bustard (GIB) and its movement patterns will be studied in three years.

DST has sanctioned a budget of ~26 lakh for the research project titled ‘Assessment of population status, distribution and movement patterns of the threatened Great Indian Bustard in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan’.

The principal investigator of the project, Dr Hemsingh Gehlot, who is currently working as an assistant professor in the department of zoology, said that the major objectives are to estimate the current population status and distributional range GIB and to create Habitat Suitability Area map for GIB using geographic information system and Remote Sensing technique in desert landscape. Soon, the project staff will be hired and work will begin, Dr Gehlot said. He said that out of the 25 species of Bustards, India is home to four species. According to Bird Life International and IUCN criteria, two are Critically Endangered (the Bengal Florican and Great Indian Bustard), one is Endangered (the Lesser Florican) and one is Vulnerable (the Houbara Bustard). The Great Indian Bustard or Godawan, once abundant in the grasslands across the Indian subcontinent, is reportedly extinct from 90% of its former range.

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