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Multi-scale prediction of landscape resistance for tiger dispersal in central India

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Abstract

Context

Connectivity models for animal movement frequently use resistance surfaces, but rarely incorporate actual movement data and multiple scale drivers of landscape resistance.

Objectives

Using GPS data, we developed a multi-scale model of landscape resistance for tiger (Panthera tigris) dispersal in central India and evaluated the performance, interpretation and predictions against single scale models.

Methods

Six dispersing tiger paths were subjected to a path level analysis with conditional logistic regression to parameterize a resistance surface. We evaluated for 21 scales of available habitat and selected the best scale for each variable. We derived a scale-optimized multivariate path selection function and predicted landscape resistance across the landscape.

Results

The tigers preferred to move along areas with forest cover at relatively high elevations along the ridges with rugged topography at broad scale, while avoiding areas with agriculture-village matrix at fine scale. We found that the scale that was most supported by Akaike’s information criterion was not always the scale that maximized the magnitude (effect size) of the relationship. Further, the multi-scale optimized model differed substantially from the single scale models in terms of variable importance, magnitude of coefficients and predictions of connectivity.

Conclusions

Our results demonstrate that the variables in landscape resistance models produce markedly different predictions of population connectivity depending on the scales of analyses and interpretation. Thus, scale optimization in parameterization is critical for appropriate inferences and sound management strategies.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, National Tiger Conservation Authority and Wildlife Institute of India for the opportunity to undertake this study. We are grateful to Dr, H.S. Pabla, Dr. Rajesh Gopal, Shri. Narendra Kumar, Shri. Dharmendra Shukla, Dr. Suhas Kumar, Shri. R. Sreenivasa Murthy, Shri. P.R. Sinha, Dr. V.B. Mathur, Shri. S.P. Yadav, Shri. Vikram Parihar, Dr. Parag Nigam and Dr. Sanjeev Gupta for support and encouragement. All researchers, volunteers and assistants (Ravi Parmar, Devi Pryadarshini, J Yogesh, Raja Raj Tilak, Rahul K, Arun Kumar, Sunil Kumar, Sunal K Roamin, Pappu Yadav, Md Rauf, Darshan Singh and Manoj Yadav), and field staff of provided support for data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, 248001, India

    Ramesh Krishnamurthy, Mriganka S. Sarkar, Manjari Malviya, Moorthy Naveen, Jeyaraj A. Johnson & Subharanjan Sen

  2. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 2500 S Pine Knoll Dr., Flagstaff, AZ, 86001, USA

    Samuel A. Cushman

  3. Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

    Subharanjan Sen

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  1. Ramesh Krishnamurthy
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  2. Samuel A. Cushman
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  3. Mriganka S. Sarkar
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Correspondence to Ramesh Krishnamurthy.

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Krishnamurthy, R., Cushman, S.A., Sarkar, M.S. et al. Multi-scale prediction of landscape resistance for tiger dispersal in central India. Landscape Ecol 31, 1355–1368 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-016-0363-0

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