Anup R. Joshi

Influence of food distribution and predation pressure on spacing behavior in palm civets

The common palm civet, Paradoxurus hermaphroditus , was studied in Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal, to determine daily and seasonal movements in relation to availability of food and predation pressure. Five adult animals (two females and three males) were captured and fitted with radiocollars and located every other day. Each animal was followed for 12 consecutive h/month. Palm civets were strictly nocturnal; activity began at ca. 1800 h and ended at ca. 0400 h. Animals were more active on dark nights than on bright, moonlit nights and typically rested during the day in the crown of vine-covered trees. Seeds of fruits were found in 84.5% of 193 scats of palm civets that were collected December 1989 to June 1990. In April, when ripe fruits were not readily available, a shift in diet from fruits to vertebrate and invertebrate prey occurred. Palm civets also fed on the nectar of Bombax ceiba and sap from stems of Vallaris solanacea . Home-range sizes varied inversely with the amount of food available. A high degree of home-range overlap indicated that individuals were not territorial. Documented predation and exclusive nocturnal activity suggest that palm civets are vulnerable to predation by large carnivores in the park. Strong predation pressure and high temporal and spatial variation in availability of food resources may account for the apparent absence of territorial behavior of palm civets in this population.

TIGMOD: an individual-based spatially explicit model for simulating tiger/human interaction in multiple use forests

Abstract The loss of tiger habitat and the greater dependency of tiger populations on multiple use forests has led to an increase in conflict between tiger and human forest use. Gaining a better understanding of this conflict through a combination of fieldwork and modeling is critical to the survival of tiger populations in these forests. TIGMOD is an individual-based spatially explicit, object-oriented model that simulates key aspects of tiger behavior and its interactions with wild and domestic prey through stochastic processes. It is a dynamic model driven by changes in states of tigers or prey that trigger the behavior and interactions appropriate to these changes. The model permits users to run the simulation based on different scenarios that explore the relationship between prey densities and tiger survivability, as well as those that examine the relationship between villager attitudes towards tiger killing of domestic prey and the likelihood of poisoning a tiger. Model output includes number of tigers born, starved, or poisoned, and number of wild and domestic prey killed. Model simulation results agree well with field observations and data in terms of prey density versus tiger survivability, number of days between two consecutive prey kills, simulated movement of tiger traversal of its home range, and number of cubs born per breeding female tiger. This study shows that tiger populations are sustainable at low density of domestic prey but not sustainable if domestic prey density increases to three or more per square kilometer. Additionally, change in behavior and attitudes of villagers towards tigers, such as increasing guarding of livestock and higher tolerance of domestic prey kills will significantly reduce tiger mortality caused by poisoning. TIGMOD is a useful tool for analyzing the interaction between tigers and humans in multiple use forests. It provides a means of understanding the right balance between forest use by tigers and use by villagers, which can lead to implementation of management strategies that optimize both.

Seasonal and Habitat-Related Diets of Sloth Bears in Nepal

Most bears are opportunistic omnivores; their diets consist of fruits, other vegetative material, and in lesser amounts, mammals, fishes, and insects. Sloth bears ( Melursus ursinas ) are the only species of ursid specifically adapted to feed on insects, especially termites and ants, although they also feed on fruits when available. We studied diets of sloth bears in Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal, where fruits are available for ca. 4 months (May–August) and access to colonies of termites is reduced in lowlands that are flooded during the fruiting season. We analyzed feces and observed sloth bears foraging to investigate their responses to changes in availability of food. Diets of sloth bears were dominated by insects (>90%), especially termites (≥50%), from September through April, but they relied heavily on fruits from May through August. Seasonal movements between lowland and upland habitats seemed to be prompted mainly by availability of termites. Termites were more dominant in the diets of sloth bears in our study than in a study conducted 20 years ago in Royal Chitwan National Park and in studies in India. The dietary shift of sloth bears in Royal Chitwan National Park may have been related to changes in habitat conditions associated with relocation of people out of the Park. It appears that sloth bears, like other bears but unlike other myrmecophagous mammals, can adapt their diet to changing food conditions.

An ecoregion-based approach to protecting half the terrestrial realm

Abstract We assess progress toward the protection of 50% of the terrestrial biosphere to address the species-extinction crisis and conserve a global ecological heritage for future generations. Using a map of Earths 846 terrestrial ecoregions, we show that 98 ecoregions (12%) exceed Half Protected; 313 ecoregions (37%) fall short of Half Protected but have sufficient unaltered habitat remaining to reach the target; and 207 ecoregions (24%) are in peril, where an average of only 4% of natural habitat remains. We propose a Global Deal for Nature—a companion to the Paris Climate Deal—to promote increased habitat protection and restoration, national- and ecoregion-scale conservation strategies, and the empowerment of indigenous peoples to protect their sovereign lands. The goal of such an accord would be to protect half the terrestrial realm by 2050 to halt the extinction crisis while sustaining human livelihoods.

Tracking changes and preventing loss in critical tiger habitat.

Real-time forest monitoring technologies could help track changes in tiger populations. The global population of wild tigers remains dangerously low at fewer than 3500 individuals. Habitat loss, along with poaching, can undermine the international target recovery of doubling the number of wild tigers by 2022. Using a new satellite-based monitoring system, we analyzed 14 years of forest loss data within the 76 landscapes (ranging from 278 to 269,983 km2) that have been prioritized for conservation of wild tigers. Our analysis provides an update of the status of tiger habitat and describes new applications of technology to detect precisely where forest loss is occurring in order to curb future habitat loss. Across the 76 landscapes, forest loss was far less than anticipated (79,597 ± 22,629 km2, 7.7% of remaining habitat) over the 14-year study period (2001–2014). Habitat loss was unevenly distributed within a subset of 29 landscapes deemed most critical for doubling wild tiger populations: 19 showed little change (1.5%), whereas 10 accounted for more than 98% (57,392 ± 16,316 km2) of habitat loss. Habitat loss in source population sites within 76 landscapes ranged from no loss to 435 ± 124 km2 (x¯=24km2, SD = 89, total = 1676 ± 476 km2). Doubling the tiger population by 2022 requires moving beyond tracking annual changes in habitat. We highlight near–real-time forest monitoring technologies that provide alerts of forest loss at relevant spatial and temporal scales to prevent further erosion.

Securing the Future for Nepal’s Tigers: Lessons from the Past and Present

Publisher Summary The story of tiger conservation in Nepal is a narrative with many twists and turns. Insights from this account are more important to understanding the persistence of tigers than the details of rigorous scientific analysis of a single aspect of tiger population dynamics or ecology. Key components of tiger conservation clearly include knowledge of their ecology and behavior and rigorous, scientific techniques for monitoring changes in the vital rates of tigers. However, the primary agents of change in numbers of tigers and tiger habitat quality are humans, so it is equally important to focus our conservation efforts to understand human behaviors that impact tigers and their habitat. For tiger habitats, Nepals rapidly developing co-management provide insights that may be helpful in stemming the range-wide decline in tiger numbers and increasing pace of local population extinctions. There is an emerging, alternative view that suggests that when conservation focuses at landscape and ecosystem levels the result is a healthier, intact ecosystem, which in turn better sustains tigers, biodiversity, and human economies at various levels. This chapter reviews the history of tigers in Nepal beginning with the early years of tiger hunting by Nepals rulers through the malaria eradication program that permanently altered the tigers habitat.

LiDAR-Assisted Multi-Source Program (LAMP) for Measuring Above Ground Biomass and Forest Carbon

Forest measurement for purposes like harvesting planning, biomass estimation and mitigating climate change through carbon capture by forests call for increasingly frequent forest measurement campaigns that need to balance cost with accuracy and precision. Often this implies the use of remote sensing based measurement methods. For any remote-sensing based methods to be accurate, they must be validated against field data. We present a method that combines field measurements with two layers of remote sensing data: sampling of forests by airborne laser scanning (LiDAR) and Landsat imagery. The Bayesian model-based framework presented here is called Lidar-Assisted Multi-source Programme—or LAMP—for Above Ground Biomass estimation. The method has two variants: LAMP2 which splits the biomass estimation task into two separate stages: forest type stratification from Landsat imagery and mean biomass density estimation of each forest type by LiDAR models calibrated on field plots. LAMP3, on the other hand, estimates first the biomass on a LiDAR sample using models calibrated with field plots and then uses these LiDAR-based models to generate biomass density estimates on thousands of surrogate plots, with which a satellite image based model is calibrated and subsequently used to estimate biomass density on the entire forest area. Both LAMP methods have been applied to a 2 million hectare area in Southern Nepal, the Terai Arc Landscape or TAL to calculate the emission Reference Levels (RLs) that are required for the UN REDD+ program that was accepted as part of the Paris Climate Agreement. The uncertainty of these estimates is studied with error variance estimation, cross-validation and Monte Carlo simulation. The relative accuracy of activity data at pixel level was found to be 14 per cent at 95 per cent confidence level and the root mean squared error of biomass estimates to be between 35 and 39 per cent at 1 ha resolution.

Chapter 25 – Securing the Future for Nepal’s Tigers: Lessons from the Past and Present

Publisher Summary The story of tiger conservation in Nepal is a narrative with many twists and turns. Insights from this account are more important to understanding the persistence of tigers than the details of rigorous scientific analysis of a single aspect of tiger population dynamics or ecology. Key components of tiger conservation clearly include knowledge of their ecology and behavior and rigorous, scientific techniques for monitoring changes in the vital rates of tigers. However, the primary agents of change in numbers of tigers and tiger habitat quality are humans, so it is equally important to focus our conservation efforts to understand human behaviors that impact tigers and their habitat. For tiger habitats, Nepals rapidly developing co-management provide insights that may be helpful in stemming the range-wide decline in tiger numbers and increasing pace of local population extinctions. There is an emerging, alternative view that suggests that when conservation focuses at landscape and ecosystem levels the result is a healthier, intact ecosystem, which in turn better sustains tigers, biodiversity, and human economies at various levels. This chapter reviews the history of tigers in Nepal beginning with the early years of tiger hunting by Nepals rulers through the malaria eradication program that permanently altered the tigers habitat.

Securing the Future for Nepal’s Tigers

Publisher Summary The story of tiger conservation in Nepal is a narrative with many twists and turns. Insights from this account are more important to understanding the persistence of tigers than the details of rigorous scientific analysis of a single aspect of tiger population dynamics or ecology. Key components of tiger conservation clearly include knowledge of their ecology and behavior and rigorous, scientific techniques for monitoring changes in the vital rates of tigers. However, the primary agents of change in numbers of tigers and tiger habitat quality are humans, so it is equally important to focus our conservation efforts to understand human behaviors that impact tigers and their habitat. For tiger habitats, Nepals rapidly developing co-management provide insights that may be helpful in stemming the range-wide decline in tiger numbers and increasing pace of local population extinctions. There is an emerging, alternative view that suggests that when conservation focuses at landscape and ecosystem levels the result is a healthier, intact ecosystem, which in turn better sustains tigers, biodiversity, and human economies at various levels. This chapter reviews the history of tigers in Nepal beginning with the early years of tiger hunting by Nepals rulers through the malaria eradication program that permanently altered the tigers habitat.