Factors influencing the habitat selection of Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) and threats to its conservation in the Narayani River of Chitwan National Park, Nepal
Bibliographic record
Abstract
The gharial is a critically endangered freshwater crocodylian. Research on gharials in Chitwan National Park has predominantly focused on the Rapti River; however, the Narayani River also harbors a significant potential habitat. This study assessed habitat factors associated with gharial occurrences and conservation threats along the Narayani River. In March 2022, we conducted a boat-based daylight survey within a 50-km segment of the Narayani River. We assessed the habitat characteristics at stations spaced at 500 m intervals along the river and wherever we spotted gharials. We analyzed the habitat factors influencing the gharial occurrence using binomial logistic regression. We conducted a threat survey, interviewing 155 Narayani river-dependent households within 1 km of the riverbank. We gathered local knowledge of gharial threats in the study area and later analyzed it to identify the perceived major anthropogenic threats to gharials. We detected 33 gharials in total, with an encounter rate of 0.66 gharials per km. Only two of the 10 habitat variables examined, river water depth and water temperature, showed significant associations in gharial habitat selection. Most of the gharials were detected at 2-3 m of water depth and 19 ˚C of water temperature. Although not statistically significant, most of the individuals were sighted when there was 25˚- 30˚C air temperature, river width of 200-300 m, on sandy riverbanks with a flat topography and riverbank slope of 0-30˚. Similarly, a greater proportion of observations occurred in locations with no invasive alien plant species and no observed anthropogenic threats. People perceived gillnet fishing, dam impact, and human disturbances as major anthropogenic threats to gharials and their habitat. Moreover, people perceived gillnet fishing, dam impacts, and human disturbances as major anthropogenic threats to gharials and their habitat. We highly recommend preserving river confluences, maintaining sandbanks, and eliminating the use of gillnets.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".