Climate and other environmental factors in fl uencing faunal ecology of Rajasthan

Abstract

The chapter throws light on a broad spectrum of the climate in Rajasthan ranging from arid and semiarid to subhumid types with an annual rainfall of less than 100 mm in the western Thar to more than 1,000 mm in eastern Rajasthan and their impacts on the faunal ecology. The pressure of human and livestock population is also one of the causative factors for scarcity of land and water resources. The drought year is often followed by good rainfall years. The impact of industrialization, urbanization, mining of minerals and oil, etc., on the interrelationship of fauna and the fast changing climatic conditions have been also discussed. For arid Rajasthan, global circulation model (GCM) predicts more hot days as well as warmer nights. This chapter concludes that changing climate and environment can lead to faunal migration or habitat loss or may even alter their adaptive capacity to new environments.