Bhim Gurung

Temporal Variation in Tiger (Panthera tigris) Populations and Its Implications for Monitoring

Abstract Tigers (Panthera tigris) are endangered wild felids whose elusive nature and naturally low densities make them notoriously difficult to count. We present 7 years of camera trapping, tracking, and observational data on a local tiger population in Chitwan National Park, Nepal, to quantify changes in abundance of demographic groups and to identify underlying causes. Mean abundance in the 100-km2 study area was 18 tigers, but there was high variance among years. Transients were generally recorded at low levels, but there were large oscillations in numbers of tiger offspring, driven by infanticide perpetrated by male tigers taking over territories. The number of breeding animals in the study area remained relatively stable, with about 6 breeding females and 1 or 2 breeding males. The high density of breeding adults in Chitwan National Park highlights the region as a potential stronghold for tigers. Concentrating on counting breeding animals increases the power of monitoring programs to detect change over time. An alternative approach is to carry out surveys on a scale large enough to encompass sufficient territories to compensate for the local impacts of periodic turnover of adult males on total abundance.

Assessing spatiotemporal changes in tiger habitat across different land management regimes

Human-induced habitat loss and degradation are increasing the extinction probability of many wildlife species worldwide, thus protecting habitat is crucial. The habitat of thousands of imperiled wildlife species occurs in a variety of land management regimes (e.g., protected areas, multiple-use areas), each exerting differing effects. We used the globally endangered tiger (Panthera tigris) to examine the relationships between habitat change and land management in Nepals Chitwan district, a global biodiversity hotspot. We evaluated the effects of environmental and human factors on tiger habitat based on data acquired by motion-detecting cameras and space-borne imaging sensors. Spatiotemporal habitat dynamics in Chitwan National Park and a multiple-use area outside the park were then evaluated in three time periods (1989, 1999, and 2009). Our results indicate that tigers preferred areas with more grasslands and higher landscape connectivity. The area of highly suitable habitat decreased inside the park over the entire 20 year interval, while outside the park habitat suitability increased, especially from 1999 to 2009. The loss of highly suitable habitat inside the park may be associated with an increasing trend of unauthorized resource extraction by a rapidly growing human population, coupled with natural processes such as flooding and forest succession. In contrast, community-based management of natural resources and the prohibition of livestock grazing since the late 1990s likely improved tiger habitat suitability outside the park. Results of this study are useful for evaluating habitat change and guiding conservation actions across the tiger range, which spans 13 countries. Moreover, quantitatively assessing habitat change across different land management regimes in human-dominated areas provides insights for conserving habitat of other imperiled wildlife species around the world.

Fine-scale spatio-temporal variation in tiger Panthera tigris diet: effect of study duration and extent on estimates of tiger diet in Chitwan National Park, Nepal

Abstract Attempts to conserve declining tiger Panthera tigris populations and distributions have experienced limited success. The poaching of tiger prey is a key threat to tiger persistence; a clear understanding of tiger diet is a prerequisite to conserve dwindling populations. We used unpublished data on tiger diet in combination with two previously published studies to examine fine-scale spatio-temporal changes in tiger diet relative to prey abundance in Chitwan National Park, Nepal, and aggregated data from the three studies to examine the effect that study duration and the size of the study area have on estimates of tiger diet. Our results correspond with those of previous studies: in all three studies, tiger diet was dominated by members of Cervidae; small to medium-sized prey was important in one study. Tiger diet was unrelated to prey abundance, and the aggregation of studies indicates that increasing study duration and study area size both result in increased dietary diversity in terms of prey categories consumed, and increasing study duration changed which prey species contributed most to tiger diet. Based on our results, we suggest that managers focus their efforts on minimizing the poaching of all tiger prey, and that future studies of tiger diet be of long duration and large spatial extent to improve our understanding of spatio-temporal variation in estimates of tiger diet.

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.

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.