Description of the work packages
The general structure
The project comprises 11 work packages (WPs). WPs 1-2 consider the socio-natural aspects of the Terai Arc Landscape and the national parks within. These WPs have a regional integrative perspective. The research in these WPs (and also in WP 9) is primarily multidisciplinary. Our primary study area is Bardia National Park in Western Nepal. WPs 3-8 address the grasslands in the floodplains at Bardia National Park and the direct and indirect pressures that act on them, using a systems-based approach. The research is thus more interdisciplinary. We will address the tiger habitat, its ecohydrological boundary conditions and their external drivers. WP 9 considers the floodplains and grasslands across the Terai Arc Landscape as a whole. WP 10 deals with local to global Knowledge Utilisation. WP11 deals with the inevitable Project Management.
WPs 1, 2 and 9 will examine the interrelationship between water management and land use management in the Terai Arc Landscape, focusing on the grasslands in the nature reserves. First, similarities and crucial differences between the various nature reserves will be signalled. Then a reconnaissance survey will be performed, covering the entire landscape of the Terai Arc Landscape, followed by more in-depth studies on selected nature reserves. Using insights from the process-oriented research (WPs 3-8) and findings from the three WPs themselves, recommendations will be formulated on nature management of the grasslands combined with water management for the TAL as a whole and landscape stewardship in the Teria Arc Landscape. Key messages from the three practically oriented WPs will be formulated for the knowledge utilisation component of the project (WP 10).
The work packages
WP 1: Integrative water management approaches under conflicting views
WP2: Landscape stewardship for water and grassland management strategies
WP3: Hydrology of the mountainous Karnali catchment under climate and land use changes
WP4: Morphodynamics of the Karnali River and erosion of vegetated floodplains
WP5: Long-term interactions between river dynamics, vegetation, groundwater, land-use and animals
WP7: Effects of hydrology and management on food production and -quality for deer
WP8: Tiger prey: Bottom-up vs. top-down control of deer in Bardia NP
WP9: Variability in ecohydrological boundary conditions for grasslands in TAL nature reserves
WP11: Project management