A sharp increase in human activity is having an impact on the way a Himalayan bird lives and communicates, two studies by Indian researchers have found. The monal, a pheasant native to Himalayan mountain forests, is deeply woven into the region's cultural, folklore and identity. The eye-catching monal - the male has distinctive green, blue and copper feathers - is the state bird of India's Uttarakhand state and the national bird of Nepal, reflecting its cultural significance across the Himalayas.
But studies show that infrastructure development and tourism are squeezing its habitat, while increasing noise is altering how it communicates with potential mates and rivals. Researchers from Uttarakhand conducted two separate studies over five years which flagged key threats to the bird. One study found that the birds are forced to move higher in the mountains as their natural habitat in the alpine meadows above the tree line get crowded.
The other says the monal is changing its pitch to cut through human noise in a busy valley. "These two studies give a useful warning for other more vulnerable species - if the monal is forced to change both its voice and its address, how are the more sensitive species responding?" says Vishal Singh, an environmental practitioner working on ecology and climate issues in the Himalayas. Dr Rajeev Lochan, lead researcher of both studies, told the BBC that they chose to study the monal as the bird has a narrow habitat range - it moves seasonally between the lower montane zone - an ecological belt found on the lower slopes of the mountains - and high-elevation alpine zones.
This, he says, makes it a key indicator of ecosystem health in the north-western Himalayas. "If the species is facing issues on this particular landscape, there might be a chance that the ecological disturbances are affecting other birds too," said Lochan. The monal, researchers say, can be seen as a stand-in for the health of a fragile Himalayan ecosystem pushed to a tipping point due to unregulated tourism and heavy urbanisation.
While the region has always drawn tourists, trekkers and researchers given its scenic landscape and biodiversity, rapid infrastructure expansion in the past decade has made more places accessible, increasing footfall and disrupting the wildlife. This, coupled with mounting human pressures, suggests that climate change is emerging as another major threat to the region's already vulnerable biodiversity. "There are a lot of factors at play but at a broader level, the problem is that the economic development of the region is not aligned to its ecological integrity," Singh said.
The Himalayas are melting faster - and India's economy is 'at risk' Why the mighty Himalayas are getting harder and harder to see According to the first study, climate change is projected to continue shrinking and destabilising the Himalayan monal's habitat across the Indian Himalayas through 2100 under multiple climate scenarios. Currently, the birds are found in alpine meadows, located high in the mountains above the forests, which form some of the Himalayas' most important seasonal grazing and biodiversity-rich habitats. The researchers modelled how climate change could shift the monal's suitable habitat across the Indian Himalayan region in the states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
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