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The influence of reproductive status on home range size and spatial dynamics of female Amur tigers

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Abstract

In populations of wild felids, social status is one of the most important factors shaping home range size and spacing patterns. For female Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica), we documented significant changes to the structure of home ranges and core areas during cub-rearing. We used VHF telemetry data collected over 18 years in Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve, Russia, to assess the following: (1) home range and core area size and (2) spatial shifts with and without cubs and (3) spatial shifts associated with philopatry. Home range and core area sizes of females collapsed by 60% after birthing, with recovery requiring 18 months. We hypothesized that usurpation of temporarily abandoned territory by other females during cub-rearing was a possibility, but aside from philopatry, we did not observe a loss of territory or evidence of competition for space. Home range boundaries changed little during cub-rearing but shifting core areas revealed that females were using different segments of their home range while rearing cubs, contradicting the notion of a single, most important core area for breeding females. Our results support two hypotheses of space use by large carnivores: that adult breeding females achieve higher reproductive success by maintaining a home range just big enough to feed herself and her offspring, and a second hypothesis that females expand home range size when space is available to allocate land to daughters. We suggest that these hypotheses are not mutually exclusive, but explain patterns of space use by female felids under different demographic conditions.

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Data availability

The datasets analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the staff of the Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Zapovednik for their support of our research, including former Directors Anatoly Astafiev and Dmitry Gorshkov and former Deputy Directors of Science Mikhail Gromyko, Elena Pimenova, and Elena Potikha. The Siberian Tiger Project staff, particularly Nikolai Rybin, Alexander Rybin, Vladmir Melnikov, Nikolai Pukhovoy, Andre Safonov, and Evgeny Gishko, collected the majority of location data upon which this analysis was based. Funding was provided by the Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenburg Foundation, United States Fish and Wildlife Service Tiger Rhino Conservation Fund, the Robertson Foundation, the Bobolink Foundation, Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, Panthera’s Kaplan Graduate Award Program, Save the Tiger Fund, and the Wildlife Conservation Society. We thank Krzysztof Schmidt and two anonymous reviewers for greatly improving the quality of this manuscript.

Funding

Funding was provided by the Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenburg Foundation, United States Fish and Wildlife Service Tiger Rhino Conservation Fund, the Robertson Foundation, the Bobolink Foundation, Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, Panthera’s Kaplan Graduate Award Program, Save the Tiger Fund, and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Autonomous Non-profit Organization Wildlife Conservation Society, 17 Aleutskaya Street, Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia, 690091

    Anna V. Klevtcova

  2. Wildlife Conservation Society, 2300 Southern Boulevard, the Bronx, New York, NY, 10460, USA

    Dale G. Miquelle & Eugenia V. Bragina

  3. Pacific Geographical Institute, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 7 Radio Street, Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia, 690041

    Ivan V. Seryodkin

  4. Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Nature Reserve, 44 Partisanskaya Street, Terney, Primorsky Krai, Russia, 692150

    Svetlana V. Soutyrina

  5. Panthera, 8 W 40th Street 18th Floor, New York, NY, 10018, USA

    John M. Goodrich

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  1. Anna V. Klevtcova
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  2. Dale G. Miquelle
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  3. Ivan V. Seryodkin
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  4. Eugenia V. Bragina
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Correspondence to Anna V. Klevtcova.

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Animal welfare statement

For this study, we obtained data from 10 radio-collared wild Amur female tigers captured between February 1992 and December 2011 within the boundaries of Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Zapovednik. Tigers were captured in leg-hold snares or darted from a helicopter, anesthetized with ketamine mixed with xylazine or medetomidine (Goodrich et al. 2001), or with Zoletil (Lewis and Goodrich 2009), and fitted with standard very high frequency (VHF) radio-collars (Telonics, Mesa, AZ, USA). The leg-hold snares were checked at least once a day, and where possible, transmitters were placed on snares to activate upon capture. Animals were monitored (respiration rate, body temperature, and pulse) throughout the handling process, as body measurements were taken, blood collected, and radio-collars attached. After the procedure was completed, an animal a received reversing agent (if medetomidine was used) and released. Capture teams were commonly assisted by licensed veterinarians. No animals were transported or otherwise removed from their natural environment. Research on wild tigers followed American Society of Mammalogist Guidelines and was approved by the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Animal Care and Use Committee.

Code availability

All data analyses were performed using open source R and QGIS software, custom cods available for sharing upon reasonable request.

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Communicated by: Krzysztof Schmidt

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Klevtcova, A.V., Miquelle, D.G., Seryodkin, I.V. et al. The influence of reproductive status on home range size and spatial dynamics of female Amur tigers. Mamm Res 66, 83–94 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-020-00547-2

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