RESEARCH ARTICLE Conservation of Wildlife Diversity in Agroforestry Systems in Eastern Himalayan Biodiversity Hotspot Yashmita-Ulman 1 • Manoj Singh 2 • Awadhesh Kumar 3 • Madhubala Sharma 3 Received: 14 January 2020 / Revised: 22 February 2021 / Accepted: 1 March 2021 / Published online: 19 March 2021 Ó Zoological Society, Kolkata, India 2021 Abstract The highly diverse tropical forests are fast being depleted and converted into isolated fragments which endangers the existence of wild animals. These fragments are interconnected by human-dominated agroforestry sys- tems. To conserve the wild animals it is important that such agroforestry systems have the potential habitat to support the survival of the enormous regional biota. The present study was carried out in agroforestry systems (agrisilvi- culture systems, home gardens and tea gardens) in Assam to understand their role in conservation of different bio- logical groups (mammals, birds, butterflies, reptiles and frogs). Total visual count method was deployed in home gardens and agrisilviculture system and line transects were laid in tea gardens for recording the faunal diversity. Altogether, 364 animal species (consisting of 14 mammal species, 185 bird species, 133 butterfly species, 18 reptilian species and 14 amphibian species) were recorded from the selected study sites of agroforestry systems. The highest animal diversity was found in home garden (311 spp.), followed by tea garden (275 spp.) and agrisilviculture system (187 spp.). Out of the 364 species recorded, only 1.09% were threatened (endangered and vulnerable) spe- cies and 1.37% were near threatened species according to the IUCN Red List. Wild animal species richness was significantly and negatively associated with distance from forest and positively associated with fruiting and flowering vegetation. Thus, the agroforestry systems with their flowering and fruiting vegetation, though cannot substitute the forest habitat but can be useful in providing shelter to the generalist species and their populations. Keywords Home gardens Á Tea gardens Á Agrisilviculture systems Á Mammals Á Birds Á Butterflies Introduction Highly diverse ecosystems like the tropical forests, are being converted or deforested for agricultural expansion, developmental projects and land-use intensification (Pastur et al. 2012). It has resulted in habitat loss, degradation, fragmentation (Harris and Silva-Lopez 1992) leading to biodiversity loss (Flynn et al. 2009). One possible and effective solution to conserve biodiversity may be to manage the remaining contagious forest areas as protected areas and manage the human-dominated agricultural landscapes (Schroth et al. 2004) by adopting age-old methods of agroforestry. Agroforestry is the intentional growing of woody perennials along with annual crops and/ or animals in the same unit of land (Nair 1993). Assam, a part of Northeast India region falls under the east Hima- layan biodiversity hotspot. This state has abundant forms of agroforestry systems in place since ancient times. Ahmed and Hazarika (2007) broadly classified the agroforestry systems present in Assam into five types namely, Agri- horticultural system (Ricinus communis/Sesamum indicum/ Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s12595-021-00361-x. & Yashmita-Ulman yashmita2018@gmail.com 1 Department of Silviculture and Agroforestry, College of Horticulture and Forestry, ANDUAT, Uttar Pradesh, Ayodhya, India 2 Department of Zoology, Kalinga University, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India 3 Department of Forestry, NERIST, Nirjuli, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh 791109, India 123 Proc Zool Soc (Apr-June 2021) 74(2):171–188 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12595-021-00361-x T H E Z O O L O G I C A L S O C I E T Y K O L K A T A