Intl. J. of Mol. Evol. and Biodivers. 2014, Vol. 4, No. 1, 1-4
2
ecosystem. Information collected with a GPS receiver
may be combined with other geographic data using
GIS technology for habitat mapping of key fauna
species (Lenton et al., 2000). The ability to model
spatial distribution and changes in distribution of
wildlife is of considerable importance for wildlife
management. Once spatial distribution can be
adequately modeled, the distribution and abundance
can be monitored efficiently over time, and future
changes can be predicted. These spatial characteristics
and relationship are often difficult to identify and hard
to display with traditional ground survey or statistical
model. Therefore, using Geographic Information
System (GIS) has become an evitable trend in ecology
studies and developing wildlife habitat model (Kafley,
2008). The characteristics of spatial analysis and
spatial display of GIS not only provides efficient way
of data handling, storage, and analyzing, more
importantly, it also enables mapping of wildlife
distribution, identification of patterns, and generation
of habitat spatial characteristics, hence, a useful tool in
decision making for conservation and wildlife
management (Scott et al., 1992; Long et al., 1993;
Ji-Wei and Clinton 2000; Lenton et al., 2000).
Biodiversity is the variation of life forms within a
species, ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet and is a
measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity
varies greatly across the globe as well as within
regions. In terrestrial habitats, the tropical regions are
rich while Polar Regions support fewer species.
Among other factors, the diversity of all living
organisms depends on temperature, precipitation,
altitude, soil, geography and the presence of other
species. About 1% of the existent species of the Earth
are extant due to environmental changes that caused
mass extinctions (Raup, 1994). There are five major
mass extinctions that have led to large and sudden
drops in biodiversity on Earth. The Phanerozoic eon
marked a rapid growth in biodiversity via the
Cambrian explosion. The next 400 million years
included repeated, massive biodiversity losses
classified as mass extinction events (Sahney et al.,
2010; Sahney and Benton, 2008; Benton, 2001). The
Holocene extinction due to habitat destruction by
humans caused loss of genetic diversity. Generally
terrestrial biodiversity is up to 25 times greater than
ocean biodiversity (Ehrlich and Ehrlich, 1981).
The natural forests of Pakistan are rapidly declining at
a rate of 4-6% per year, resulting in a decline in
population size of both flora and fauna (Haq et al.,
2010). The forests of Pakistan require special attention
for the conservation of environment and sustainable
utilization of natural resources. The decrease in forest
cover and associated major changes in community
composition has led to the decline in population size
of many important plant and animal species (Haq,
2012).
Distrist Buner is situated between 340-11’ and 340-43’
North _ Latitude and 720-13’ and 720- 45’ East _
Longitude in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of
Pakistan. The District is surrounded by Swat district
on North, Malakand Agency on the West Mardan
district on the South and Hazara Division on the east
having altitudinal range 366-291m, with a total area of
1 865km
2
and population of 506 048 individuals.
District Buner is made up of plain and undulating land
and mountain slopes. The plain and undulating areas
are lying on the lower elevation and mountain slopes
with barren rocks are on higher elevation. The
hydrology of the District is covered by seasonal
streams (Khan et al., 2012).
There is less work documented on the mammalian
fauna of district Buner. It was the first attempt to
explore mammals in district Buner.
Results
During the current study 8 species were recorded from
district Buner. The details are given in Table 1.
Endemic species are those that are only found in a
particular geographical area. Such species have high
conservation value. There are five mammal species
identified as endemic to Pakistan (Sheikh & Molur,
2004 and Gippoliti, 2008) which include Indus
Dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor), Balochistan
Black Bear (Ursus thibetanus gerardiana), Punjab
Urial (Ovis vignei punjabiensis), Woolly Flying
Squirrel (Eupetaurus cinereus) and Balochistan
Dormouse (Dryomys niethammeri) (Ali et al., 2012).
The endemic species found in district Buner are Grey
Goral, Porcupine, Fox, Monkey, Wild bore, Jackal,
Hare and Bat.
