2. Material and methods

60,000. The major communities are living in the area study are Baradin, Baloch, Chang, Shard, Syed, Rapper, Dashi, Maleah, Khaskheli, Channa, Sahta, Gopang, Bhurgari, Rind, Nizamani, Mirbahar, Khoso, Wassan, Deewan, Ibupoto, Kakepoto, Rajar, Mirani, and Macchi. From these communities, a few numbers of people are engaged in artisan work, trade, business and job in government departments etc. The Livestock and agriculture are the major source of income of local communities. Cotton and wheat are the main crops cultivated in the Nara while sugarcane, barely, oil seed, pulses, vegetable and fodder are also cultivated. The peoples of the area are living in the worst condition and they have least health facilities, drinking water, education and they do not have available basic life facilities. In spite of low productivity of area, the desert area sustains relatively higher human (1.05 m) and livestock (1.25 m) populations was reported, respectively. The livestock is the major source of income, meat and wool in the area. The overexploitation of vegetation by the grazing animals and the cutting of trees and shrubs for fuel purposes have resulted in environmental degradation that threatens the natural resources in this area. There is no developed transportation system in the Nara Desert. Due to

low literacy rate in the area, there is a lack of employment opportunities [5].

58 Community and Global Ecology of Deserts

1.3. Floristical and faunilistical assessment of Nara Desert wetland complex

In the region of NDWC the richest biodiversity comprises a mosaic habitat of sandy hills, canals, forests, agriculture fields, freshwater and hypersaline wetlands. The area has the richest plant biodiversity consisting of 160 plant species belonging to 118 genera and 45 families were recorded [8–10]. The seasonal crops include sugarcane, cotton, wheat, barley and sunflower. The major vegetation in the sandy habitats are Prosopis cineraria, Acacia niloticus, Salvadora oleoides, Dalbergia sissoo, Tamarix aphylla, Melia azedarach, Populus spp. and Calotropis procera [5, 6, 11–13]. In the Nara Desert, the various drought-tolerant plant species, such as cactuses and succulents (Agaves spp.), Aerva javanica, Calligonum polygonoides, Crotalaria burhia, Capparis decidua, Dipterygium glaucum, Tephrosia villosa, Aristida adscensionis, Cassia, Tephrosia uniflora and Cassia italic were recorded [5]. In the zone of Nara Desert, a mixed vegetation of shrubs and plants, such as Typha spp., Hydrilla verticillata, Paspalum distichum, Polygonum hyaropier, Urticularia lotus, Nelumbium nuciferum, Desmostachya bininata, Phragmites karka, Saccharum bengalensis and Tamarix indica were also reported [5, 8–10, 14–23]. The region has been received the high socio-economic values for the local community which is dependent on the agriculture, livestock, fish farms and freshwater wetlands. In this area, the small to medium villages are scattered and their major economies are agriculture and livestock [1, 2, 5, 17, 24]. In this zone, the variety of different wild mammalian species includes Hemiechnus auritus, Caracal caracal, Felis chaus, Felis margarita, Herpestes edwardsi, Herpestes javanicus, Canis lupus pallipes, Vulpes zerda, Hyaena hyaena, Mellivora capensis, Manis crassicaudata, Gazella bennettii, Hyelaphus porcinus, Sus scrofa cristatus, Lepus tibetanus, Funambulus pennantii, Hystrix indica, Lutrogale perspicilletta, Lutra lutra and Prionailurus viverrinus [5, 25–27]. The NDWC has the richest biodiversity of native and migratory avian fauna of which more than 78 avian species were recorded [5, 7, 24, 25, 28–30]. From this region, two threatened species of Indian-backed vulture and houbara bustard were recorded. The indigenous bird species of myna, crow, sparrow, redwattled lapwing, white-tailed plover, and stilt were commonly observed. Two bird species of For the collection of data the study was carried out in Nara Desert Wildlife Sanctuary which is located between 2628 N and 6870 N (Elevation 50–115 m) in the province of Sindh, Pakistan For the collection of flora species, the direct method/observation was applied during the diurnal period. To collect the faunal species, the direct and indirect methods were applied. For the collection of important ecological data of floristical and faunistical species, the field work for diurnal and nocturnal surveys were conducted randomly.

For the various physicochemical parameters, water from 10 randomly selected stations from a few selected lakes of NDWC were sampled monthly from January to December 2015. The samples were collected from two different sampling sites of upper surface and lower bottom layers and were kept in (Van Dorn Plastic Bottles 1.5 liter) during the collection period.


Table 1. Analytical procedure for physicochemical parameters of NDWC during 2015.

After the samples were kept in 10% nitric acid for 24 hours and rinsed with the distilled water. Water samples were mixed in acid-washed container, rinsed with distilled water, and then stored at 4C for further analysis. For quality assurance, the samples were analyzed in duplicate through careful standardization and samples examined. Physicochemical analysis was performed by the standardized methods [33]. Chemical properties of water samples including water temperature, depth, and transparency were measured with the Secchi Disk. The temperature was measured by a mercury thermometer immersed into a water depth of 15 cm for 2–5 mins. The pH was measured by of an Orion Model 420 pH meter. The EC, TDS, and Na parameters were measured by a WTW 320 conductivity meter. Alkalinity, hardness, Cl and phosphate were analyses conducted by the standardized methods as recognized by WHO [34]. Titration method (2310) was used to measure Ca, HCO3 and HCO. Mg and K were analyzed by spectrometry. For the analysis of BOD and DO, the Winkler method and a Jenway Model 9071 Oxygen Meter were used, respectively (Table 1).
