Biotic and abiotic

Principle of animal life Lab

Murree Tour

factors

Study tour and observations about Biotic and Abiotic Factors of Murree
 Introduction
On 21 dec, our college held a study tour to Murree.
Though I am adventurous, I had never visited any hilly
areas, I and my friends decided to visit Murree with
the college tour. It was a one night stay to murree. On
the day we reached murree at around 3:00 pm, it was
the best day of our life. We were very tired; we chose
to rest and began our adventure on the next day.
On the following morning everyone woke up early.
Though the trip was short, we visited Donga Gali,
Shangla Gali, Ayubia and New Murree. We come back
home at 4:00 am.

Objective:
During this journey, we observed biotic and abiotic
factors.
 Biotic factors:
Biotic factors are the living parts of an environment.
Example:
Plants, animals and living organisms.
  Abiotic factors:
Abiotic factors are the non living parts of an
environment.
Example:
Water, sunlight etc.

Tour report:
1. Biotic factors:
We captured a lot of flowers. In Nathia Gali there is
hydrangea which likes to be in cool position. It does
not grow well in our subtropical climate of
Gujranwala.
Murree and Nathiya gali is full of honeysuckle
shrubs. I thought they might be lonicera japonica but
it is a climber not a small tree. So it is some lonicera
shrub or small tree with mildly fragrant flowers.

The yellow iris flowers. They are not wild but grow in
many gardens in murree and Nathiya gali.
Pinus is a very important tree (biotic factor) of
murree.
We observe a variety of rare animal species.
First one is Rhesus macaque.

Second one is fox.

Third one is Kalji pheasant.

2. Abiotic factors:
In murree abiotic factors are water, sunlight, snow
falling, climate and soil.
 Snow falling:
  Climate:

Social behavior of Rhesus Macaques

The feeding ecology of rhesus monkeys, Macaca
mulatta, was studied between 1978 and 1981. The
study site, located in the Murree Hills of northwestern
Pakistan, supported a mixed coniferous-deciduous
forest community and was characterized by a high
degree of human disturbance. We used a linear
transect method to sample the species composition
and structure of the vegetation. Comparison of these
data with historical records showed that the forest
has undergone major changes in the last hundred
years. Data on feeding behavior were collected
through on-the-minute focal animal sampling. The
monkeys spent about 45% of the day feeding. Their
preferred foods were grass, clover, and other ground
herbs that occur in the disturbed sites. Fruit
accounted for less than 9% of feeding records. The
rhesus monkey may be pre-adapted to living in
disturbed-site, forest-edge communities. The
evolutionary history of Macaca mulatta may be tied
closely to the disappearance of forest and the spread
of meadows and savannahs over the last million
years.
 Social behavior of kalji pheasant
Cooperative breeding is an evolutionarily curious
behavior, because helpers appeared to altruistically
forgo opportunity for their own reproduction. In a
population of Kalij Pheasants Lophura leucomelanos
introduced to Hawai'i, we recorded cooperative
breeding behaviors including caring for chicks,
defending against conspecific intruders, and vigilance
against predators. While cooperative breeding mostly
occurs in altricial species, in which offspring need
substantial parental care to survive, such behavior in
the precocial Kalij Pheasants with relatively
independent offspring provides an excellent
opportunity to examine cooperative breeding and its
influencing factors without the constraint of intense
offspring needs. In our study population, Kalij
pheasants formed stable social groups that usually
contained one female and one to six males, and larger
groups maintained larger year-round home ranges in
general. One male was dominant among others within
a social group, and age was the only factor found to
determine dominance, indicating helpers can possibly
stay in social groups and queue for dominance.
Because high density was observed, we hypothesized
that breeding habitat may be saturated, and that
subordinate males cannot establish independent
breeding habitat and subsequently remain in social
groups. The removal of about one third of social
groups resulted in a significant decrease in number
and proportion of multiple male groups, and
suggested that habitat saturation contributed to
cooperative breeding in this population. To examine if
helpers gained genetic benefits, we used 12 autosomal
microsatellites and applied relatedness and parentage
analyses to 88 adult and 82 offspring samples. On one
hand, we found 34.4% subordinate males were related
to the dominant male of the social group, indicating
some helpers can gain inclusive fitness by helping kin.
On the other hand, subordinate males fathered 16.5%
of offspring sampled, suggesting that helpers can gain
direct fitness be participate in reproduction. These
results helped to understand the maintenance of
cooperative breeding in this population; however, the
causes for cooperative breeding can be complex in
reality. In addition to examined factors, group-living
benefits and life history traits may also have played a
role in cooperative breeding in Kalij Pheasants.