Journal of Ecosystem & Ecography
Open Access

Research Article

Monitoring of Sheep Migration in Arid Region of Rajasthan, India Using EO Data

¹ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur, India

²ICAR-Indian Grassland Forest Research Institute, Jhansi, India

³ICAR- Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow, India

⁴International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Area (ICARDA), Amman, Jordan

⁵Animal & Rangeland Sciences Department, Oregon State University, USA

Corresponding Author:

Gaur MK
ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur – 342003, India
Tel: +91 291 2786534 (Extn.: 254)
Fax: +91 291 2788706
E-mail: maheshjeegaur@yahoo.com

Received April 24, 2016; Accepted May 30, 2016; Published June 07, 2016

Citation: Gaur MK, Chand K, Misra AK, Roy MM, Louhaichi M, et al. (2016) Monitoring of Sheep Migration in Arid Region of Rajasthan, India Using EO Data. J Ecosys Ecograph 6:190. doi:10.4172/2157-7625.1000190

Copyright: ©2016 Gaur MK, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

The annual aggregate spatially normal rainfall is extremely variable and most erratic in the western arid region of Rajasthan state. As a result, it frequently experiences spells of drought. Surface water resources are also meagre and distributed unevenly. Drought is a multi-dimensional phenomenon and its direct impacts include like withering of crops, drying of watering points, reduction in fodder for livestock, etc. Such crisis eventually compels Rebari pastoralists to migrate to other places and regions as a coping mechanism against the scarcity of fodder and water in the arid zone of Rajasthan. The scarcity of fodder at any time is a function of stocking rate and carrying capacity of the system at that time, which is affected mainly by the amount of precipitation and livestock population. This has been covered through analysing migration routes and determinants by using the data collected from the ATS plus GPS Collars. It has been found that biomass density changed following grazing across gradients and ground cover. Also, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was 5-10% lower inside the grazing area than outside the grazing area.

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