The spacing pattern of reintroduced tigers in human-dominated Sariska Tiger Reserve
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22120/jwb.2020.124591.1129Keywords:
Dispersal, home range, monitoring, movement pattern, reintroduced tigersAbstract
This study aimed to estimate the tiger home range size and obtain information on the movement pattern of reintroduced tigers in the human-dominated Sariska Tiger Reserve. The observed extensive home ranges (100% MCP method) of tigresses ST3 (172.75 km²), ST9 (85.25 km²), and ST10 (80.10 km²) can be attributed to low prey base and very high anthropogenic forces. Similarly, the observed small home range of tigresses ST7, ST2, ST14, and ST8 viz. 16.59 km², 19.34 km², 36.58 km², and 43.04 km² respectively is due to high prey abundance in their respective areas. The high home ranges of subadult ST13 & ST15, respectively, up to 687.58 km² and189.46 km² is due to the initial exploration of their territory. After settling in their respective territories, ST13 in North of STR and ST15 in the south, their mean monthly home ranges respectively decreased to 61.37 km² and 47.67 km². The observed larger mean home ranges (based on 100% MCP method) of ST4 (85.40 km²) and ST6 (79.94 km²) as compared to young ST13 (61.369 km²), ST11 (57.63 km²), and ST15 (47.67 km²) may be due the reason of early occupancy of the respective areas by these old tigers. Non-expansion of the home ranges of any of the remaining four male tigers (ST4, 6, 13, and 15) after the killing of ST11male tiger in STR suggests non-exploratory behavior of already settled male tigers. The observed high average monthly displacement of the home range for sub-adult ST15 can be justified regarding its dispersal from the natal area to the south of STR. Exploring the southern part of the reserve and finally settling in a smaller area with minimum displacement of monthly home ranges can be other justification as well.
References
Anderson, J. (1982). The home range. A new non-parametric estimation technique. Ecology 63, 103-112.
Southwood, T.R.E. (1996). Ecological methods. Methuen, London, U.K.
Burt, W. H. (1943). Territoriality and home range concepts as applied to mammals. Journal of mammalogy 24, 346–352.
Chundawat, R.S. (2001). Tiger conservation in dry tropical forests of India. Report: Jan 2000 to June 2001, submitted to Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bangalore, India
Deat, A., Mauget, R., Maurel, D. & Sempere, A. (1980). The automatic, continuous fixed audio tracking system of the Chize forest, In C.J. Amlaner & D.W. Macdonald, (Eds.), A Hand Book on Biotelemetry and Radio-Tracking. Permagon Press, Oxford
Dobson, F.S. (1982). Competition for mates and predominant juvenile male dispersal in mammals. Animal Behaviour, 30, 1183–1192.
Eric, M., Gese, E.M, Rongstad, O.J. & Mytton, W.R. (2008). Home range and habitat use of coyotes in southeastern Colorado, Journal of Wildlife Management, 52 (4), 640-646.
Goodrich, J. M., Kerley, L.L., Schleyer, B.O., Quigley, K.S., Miquelle, D., Smirnov,Y.N., Nikolaev, I.G., Quigley, H. & Hornocker, M.G. (2001). Capture and chemical anesthesia of Amur tigers. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 29, 533–542.
Goodrich, J.M., Kerley, L.L., Miquelle, D.G., Smirnov, E.N., Quigley, H.B. & Hornocker, M.G. (2005). The social structure of Amur tigers on Sikhote–Alin Biosphere Zapovednik. In D.G. Miquelle, E.N. Smirnov, & J.M. Goodrich, (Eds.), Tigers of Sikhote–Alin Zapovednik: Ecology and Conservation, PSP, Vladivostok, Russia (in Russian), pp. 50–60.
Goodrich, J.M., Miquelle, D.G., Smirnov, E.N., Kerley, L.L., Quigley, H.B. & Hornocker, M.G. (2010). Spatial structure of Amur (Siberian) tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) on Sikhote–Alin Biosphere Zapovednik, Russia, Journal of Mammalogy, 91(3), 737–748.
Harestad, A. S. & Bunnell, F. L. (1979). Home range and body weight – a reevaluation. Ecology, 60, 389–402
Jhala, Y.V., Mukherjee, S., Shah, N, Chauhan, K.S., Dave, C.V., Meena, V. & Banerjee, K. (2009). Home range and habitat preference of female lions (Panthera leo persica) in Gir forests India. Biodiversity Conservation, 18, 3383–3394.
Kelly, M.J., Noss, A.J., Bitetti, M.S., Maffei, L., Arispe, R.L., Paviolo, A., De Angelo, C, .D. & DiBlanco, Y.E. (2008). Estimating puma density from camera trapping across three study sites: Bolivia, Argentina, and Belize. Journal of Mammalogy, 89, 408–418
Kerley, L. L., Goodrich, J.M., Miquelle, D.G., Smirnov, E.N., Quigley, H.B., Hornocker & M.G. (2003). Reproductive parameters of wild female Amur (Siberian) tigers (Panthera tigris altaica). Journal of Mammalogy, 84, 288–298.
Lott, D. F. (1991). Intraspecific variation in the social systems of wild vertebrates. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Macdonald, D.W. & Amlaner, C.J. (1980). A practical guide to radio-tracking, In C.J. Amlaner & D.W. Macdonald (Eds.), A hand book on biotelemetry and radio-tracking. Pergamon Press, Oxford.
Macdonald, D.W. (1983). The ecology of carnivore social behaviour. Nature, 301, 379–384.
Mcdougal, C. (1977) . The face of the tiger. Rivington Books, London, United Kingdom
Minta, S.C. (1993). Use of spatio-temporal interaction statistics on badgers to test predictions of territorial polygyny theory. Oecologia, 96, 402–409.
Miquelle, D.G., Smirnov, E.N., Merrill, W.T., Myslenkov, A.E., Quigley, H.B., Hornocker, M.G. & Schleyer, B. (1999). A habitat protection plan for the Amur tiger, In Seidensticker, J., Christie, S. & Jackson, P (Eds.), Riding the tiger: meeting the needs of people and wildlife in Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 273– 295.
Mohr, C.O. (1947). Table of equivalent populations of North American small mammals. American Midland Naturalist, 37, 223-249.
Nikolaeve, I. G. & Yudin, V.G. (1993). Conficts between man and tiger in the Russian Far East. Bulletin Moscovsky Obschestva Ispytateley Prirody, 98, 23–36.
Powell, R.A. (1979). Mustelid spacing patterns: variation on a theme by Mustela. Zeitschrift fu¨r Tierpsychologie, 50, 153–165.
Quigley, H.B., Koehler, G.M. & Hornocker, M.G. (1989). Dynamics of a mountain lion population in central Idaho over a 20–year period, In R.H. Smith(Eds.), Proceedings of the 3rd mountain lion workshop. The Wildlife Society, Arizona Chapter, Phoenix, p. 54.
Sandell, M. (1989). The mating tactics and spacing patterns of solitary carnivores, In J.L. Gittleman (Eds.), Carnivore behavior, ecology and evolution. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, pp. 164–182
Sanderson, G.C. (1966). The study of mammal movements – a review. Journal of Wildlife Management, 52, 316– 320
Sankar, K., Goyal, S.P. & Qureshi, Q. (2005). Assessment of status of tiger in Sariska Tiger Reserve Rajasthan. A Report submitted to the Project Tiger, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, New Delhi.
Sankar, K., Qureshi, Q., Mondal, K., Worah, D., Srivastava, T., Gupta, S. & Basu, S. (2009). Ecological studies in Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan. Final Report. Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra Dun, p. 145.
Sankar, K., Qureshi, Q., Nigam, P., Malik, PK., Sinha, PR., Mehrotra, RN., Gopal, R., Bhattacharjee, S., Mondal, K. & Gupta, S. (2010). Monitoring of reintroduced tigers in Sariska Tiger Reserve, Western India: Preliminary findings on home range, prey selection and food habits. Journal of Tropical Conservation Science, 3(3), 301-318
Schaller, G.B. (1967). The deer and the tiger: a study of wildlife in India. Chicago, IL, University of Chicago Press
Smith, J.L.D. (1984). Dispersal, communication, and conservation strategies for the tiger (Panthera tigris) in Royal Chitawan National Park, Nepal. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Smith, J.L.D., McDougal, C. & Sunquist, M.E. (1987a). Female land tenure system in tigers, In R.L. Tilson & U.S. Seal (Eds.), Tigers of the world: the biology, biopolitics, management and conservation of an endangered species. Noyes Publications, Park Ridge, New Jersey, USA, pp. 97–109
Smith, J.L.D. Wemmer, C. & Mishra, H. R. (1987b). A tiger geographic information system: the first step in a global conservation strategy, In R.L. Tilson. & U.S. Seal (Eds.), Tigers of the world: the biology, biopolitics, management and conservation of an endangered species. Noyes Publications, Park Ridge, New Jersey, USA, pp. 464–474.
Smith, J.L.D. & Mcdougal, C. (1991). The contribution of variance in lifetime reproduction to effective population size in tigers. Conservation Biology, 5, 484–490
Smith, J.L.D. (1993). The role of dispersal in structuring the Chitwan tiger population. Animal Behaviour, 124, 165–195
Swihart, R.K. & Slade, N.A. (1985). Influence of sampling interval on estimates of home-range size. Journal of Wildlife Management, 49, 1019-1025.
Seidensticker, J. (1976). On the ecological separation between tigers and leopards. Biotropica, 8(4), 225-234
Sunquist, M. E. (1981). The social organization of tigers (Panthera tigris) in Royal Chitwan National Park. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 336, 1–98.
Sunquist, M.E, Karanth, U.K. & Sunquist, F. (1999). Ecology, behavior, and resilience of the tiger and its conservation needs, In J. Seidensticker, S. Christie, & P. Jackson (Eds.), Riding the tiger: tiger conservation in human-dominated landscapes Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom. Pp. 5–18
Trent, T.T. & Rongstad, O.J. (1974). Home range and survival of cottontail rabbits in Southwestern Wisconsin. Journal of Wildlife Management, 38, 459–472
Yudakov, A. G. & Ikolaev, I.G. (1987). Ecology of the Amur tiger. Winter long-term observations in the western part of the middle Sikhote-Alin, 1970–1973. Nauka Press, Moscow, Russia (in Russian).
White, G. C. & Garrot, R. A. (1990). Analysis of radio-tracking data. Academic Press.
JWB applies the 