Holy yet Hindered: Habitat use patterns of a large herbivore reveal challenges to Farmers in India

Abstract

Large herbivores are integral to ecosystem functioning worldwide, often acting as ecosystem engineers or keystone species. However, their spatial ecology is increasingly disrupted by escalating anthropogenic pressures and rapid land-use transformations across diverse landscapes, leading to spatial incongruence and rising human-wildlife conflicts globally. The human-nilgai conflict in India exemplifies such challenges, particularly in regions where nilgai habitat and human activities overlap. We used three independent and extensive datasets comprising nilgai occurrences from camera trapping, citizen science, and conflict records to assess nilgai habitat preferences and the potential of conflict at a landscape scale in India. Specifically, we assessed (a) the factors that determine the suitability of a particular environmental covariate for nilgai in a landscape, (b) the extent of suitability of these land cover classes, (c) the distribution of these classes with respect to their protection status and administrative divisions, and (d) the extent of overlap between croplands and suitable habitat patches across this landscape. Our findings revealed that nilgai habitat suitability is negatively associated with anthropogenic disturbances, while positively with forest deciduousness and moderate aridity. Among different land cover classes, rangeland (40.64 %), closely followed by woodland (32.36 %), and cropland (25.96 %), stands out for its highest suitability. We found that over 83.83 % of nilgai suitable habitats lie outside protected areas, with the majority concentrated in Madhya Pradesh (42.49 %). Furthermore, we found that Madhya Pradesh is highly vulnerable to conflict, with 43,720.39 km² of suitable areas, respectively, overlapping with cropland. Given the higher suitability of agricultural lands and their adaptability for nilgai, translocation may not mitigate this conflict, as removing them does not change the attractiveness of these areas, potentially leading to new conflict as other nilgai move in. Instead, better land-use planning that prioritizes the protection of rangelands and forests outside the protected area network is recommended to promote human-nilgai coexistence in this landscape.