Journal of Biodiversity & Endangered Species

The family Platanistidae is most basal position among the Odontoceti lineages, all members has been extinct except two the Ganges river dolphin (Platanista gangetica)and the Indus river dolphin (P. minor). Their ancestors were deep marine dwelling and moved to the freshwater ecosystem of the subcontinent and thrived in the Ganges river system, later invaded the Indus river system by following the shifting flow pattern of the tributaries. The development of dams and barrages has severe negative impact, habitat destruction; isolation and extirpation of several subpopulations, there were only few hundred individuals in Pakistan. In 1974, conservation efforts were carried out in Pakistan, now are highly appraised and available data reflects an increasing population trend across the Indus River in Pakistan. During dry season dolphins prefer to stay in deep water pools, which increase group sizes, and intraspecific interactions which can be predicted from different skin marks. These marks are promising marks for the Capture-mark-recapture (CMR) and to assess the underwater threats. The conflict between fisheries and dolphins may also reach at intense level during dry season, when predator and fisheries target the same species which may lead to injuries among adults and high mortalities among the calves (1-2 years age). There is still, a big gap on the information of any disease and on identification of the parasites at species level. Future studies should be focused on the preference prey and the prey abundance and density across the habitat. The prevalence of microplastics from the Punjab river section and the intensive use of pesticides in the agriculture bed on the immediate banks of both sides in Sindh and Punjab indicated rise in water pollution. It is necessary to monitor water quality around the year for the long term conservation of this endangered species.

Range land is covering the large areas of the earth surface and provides different ecosystem goods and services. Although, range land cannot obtain appropriate conservation and management practice due to this, it’s vulnerable to many problems like land degradation, bush encroachment,overgrazing, land use/land cover change and etc. Land use/land cover change is the main challenges of range land biodiversity and conversation of wide area of range land to crop land and other land use type. The expansion of agricultural activity, increasing population pressure, property rights issues, illegal fire and deforestation are the main drivers of land use/land cover change. Land use change has been influencing on rangeland biodiversity especially, decrease plant and animal diversity, reduce ecosystem service and soil fertility. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to identify the effects of land use/land cover change on range land biodiversity