Abstract
We assessed occupancy for tigers Panthera tigris across Kanha–Pench corridor (KPC) in Madhya Pradesh, India. Tiger presence information was recorded by sign detection data generated from occupancy sampling of 17 grids, each of 100 km2. We used spatially replicated survey to explicitly address imperfect detections. We modelled occupancy (ψ) as a function of proportion of forested habitat, relative occurrence of prey species, and anthropogenic disturbances. Models were developed using a first-order Markovian dependence model implemented in program PRESENCE. Our results show that density of prey and levels of human disturbance were key determinants affecting tiger presence. We estimated that of the 2200 km2 potential tiger habitat available in KPC, tigers occupy 84 %, or an area of 1848 km2 (SE = 332.64 km2). Model averaging resulted in a replicate level detection probability p (SE) = 0.33 (0.08) for signs and a tiger habitat occupancy estimate of ψ (SE) = 0.84 (0.18). Landscape-level occupancy sign surveys are useful to assess large carnivore spatial distributions and determine factors governing their presence or absence. Occupancy results support earlier findings that prey presence and absence of human disturbance were key determinants for survival of tigers. We highlight the importance of corridors, habitats, and linkages which are important lifelines for large carnivores, tigers in particular. We discuss current infrastructural development pressure in the area and provide recommendations on critical local linkages to focus conservation efforts to maintain and improve current habitat connectivity for tigers and other carnivores in the area.
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Acknowledgments
We offer our sincere gratitude to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, for providing requisite permissions for the field work. We are also thankful to the Divisional Forest Officers of Mandla, Balaghat, and South Seoni Division for their immense help and support for this study. We are thankful to all Range Officers of the ranges in our study area for their immense help during the field study. Thanks are also due to the Forest Guards who accompanied us during the survey in field. We are also grateful to Dr. Y. V. Jhala and Mr. Qamar Qureshi of Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, for their valuable inputs and advice in designing the research methodology and data analysis. We are thankful to the team members Mr. K. Narsimma Rajan and Ms. Divya Ramesh from Wildlife Institute of India for carrying out the field surveys along with us and without which the huge area may not have been possible to cover within the time line and resources. We also thank WWF-India staffs, Mr. Sanjay Thakur for all the liasoning with the forest officials and Mr. Sunny Shah, for working with us in field survey. A lot of thanks to our field officers Mr. Kamal Thakur and Mr. Naveen Srivastav for their immense help during the survey from working in the field to looking our logistic arrangements to sometime driving the vehicle for almost 12 h per day. We also acknowledge Mr. Ravi Singh, Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer of WWF-India, as well as Dr. Sejal Worah, Dr. Diwakar Sharma, Dr. Dipankar Ghose, Mr. Joseph Vattakaven, Advisor, WWF-TAI and Dr. Shivaji Chauhan (Former Landscape Coordinator, SML), from WWF-India for their encouragement and support for this work. The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions to make the manuscript better.
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Borah, J., Jena, J., Yumnam, B. et al. Carnivores in corridors: estimating tiger occupancy in Kanha–Pench corridor, Madhya Pradesh, India. Reg Environ Change 16 (Suppl 1), 43–52 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-015-0904-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-015-0904-0