Progress 10/01/11 to 09/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Thailand; the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Nepal; the State Forestry Administration, China and the Provincial Forest Office, Yunnan, China; scientists globally who study large carnivore conservation. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Both the work in Thailand and Nepal provided opportunties for undergraduate students (25) from the University of Minnesota to participate in ongoing large carnivore research as well as undertake indpendent projects during two study abroad courses in 2015. In Nepal, students were trained and conducted the second occupancy survey for tigers and large mammals in Parsa Reserve, adjacent to Chitwan National Park. Also, I am advising 2 Thai graduate students working on two different aspects of research (large mammal landscape genetic study; large mammal occupancy surveys) under this project. In addition to my assistance to them as they finish their degrees, I arranged for one to spend several months at USFWS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in the U.S. to work with one of the statisticians there on occupancy analysis. An undergraduate student from U of Colorado, working with me and other colleagues, visited Thailand to work with Thai staff in preparation for developing the movement model for tigers and to learn the methods of data acquisition. Through new interactions with a group of faculty from Beijing Normal University, I arranged for them to visit the research station (Khao Nang Rum) in Thailand to work with scientists there to learn how to use a stripe pattern identity software and to confirm tiger identies from their large camera trap project in NE China. In Nepal I facilitated a visit by a USFWS statistician to work with staff and also U Minnesota undergraduates on occupancy survey analysis. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Three peer-reviewed publications were produced through my interactions with colleagues from Beijing Normal University. These have been distributed to the global community interested in landscape scale movement of large carnivores. Reports from funded projects were distributed to funding agencies and were submitted to in country government agencies. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Impact of project: This project is the first to acquire significant information on the biology of tigers in Southeast Asia using GPS satellite technology and to apply results to conservation efforts. Knowledge of animal movement, application of data to realistic models and presence/absence maps is required for protecting this globally important population of tigers and results and methods developed are also relevant for other studies of large mammals in Asia and North America. Methods developed in Thailand are now being applied in Nepal and China. The project has also resulted in training of professionals and students in Thailand, Nepal, China and the U.S. Objective 1: Initiate first in depth study of tiger ecology/behavior at landscape scale using satellite GPS collars: 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted; in 2015 an additional 4 new animals were captured and fitted with satellite collars bringing sample to about 40 animals monitored since 2009 (beginning of tiger research in Thailand). In 2015 a major focus was animal movement, prey killing ecology and competition between tigers and leopards. A project was developed to extend tiger capture to an adjacent protected area, Tung Yai East to the north. This work was started in 2016. Location data on individual animals allowed investigators to visit kill sites after tigers left the area to determine prey species; prey age; habitat variables associated with site and other activiies at the site based on animal tracks. Data have not been analyzed but major prey of tigers are banteng, sambar, gaur and wild boar. Analysis of tiger and leopard scats wre finalized and a manuscript is in preparation for publication on competition between leopards and tigers. The question that has emerged is whether or not leopards suppress tiger numbers. Results demonstrate that there is high overlap in diet between the two species with few differences by season. The key discovery of interest is that leopards are switching to killing young prey during the peak birth season of ungulates which ultimately means leopards are limiting survival of prey to the size preferred by tigers. These results may indicate why leopards occur at >2x the density of tigers and suggest they could be limiting tiger numbers in the Thailand study area which is an important variable not previously considered in tiger conservation. 2) Data collected: Movement data are transmitted to researchers in Thailand and the U.S. on a daily basis via satellite. Researchers explored frequency of collection (can be controlled electronically) to determine best balance of data acquisition and battery life. Location data are used to map animal movement, study leopard/tiger interactions and identify sites where tiger have killed prey. For each tiger we receive a location every hour or about 670 locations/month. 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results: 4 new tigers collared, bringing to total approximately 40 animals for which we have movement data. For individuals with collars active for an entire year (most animals), location points are approximately 8000. Kill site analysis shows major prey species in the WEFCOM are banteng, sambar, gaur and wild boar. This diet has high overlap (.84) with leopards; leopards remove high percent of subadult prey animals during birthing season suggesting indirect competition may suppress tiger numbers by removal of prey before prey reaches size preferred by tigers. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized.: Data on movement have been used to develop initial model to predict tiger behavior which has potential for application to conservation as well as to other landscape scale studies of animal movement elsewhere in world. Results on tiger/leopard diet overlap is too new for a larger outcome but has led to discussion among government scientists on the potential role of leopards in suppressing tiger numbers. Analysis of kill site study has not been formally completed yet. Objective 2: Develop individual based, realistic model to evaluate management scenarios for a large carnivore at level of large landscape: 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted; the first working model was developed in 2015 and a manuscript has been submitted to International Journal of Geographical Information Science. 2) Data collected; For this model, location data for only two tigers were used to develop and validate the model. These data were collected previously and represented about 16,000 individual locations. 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results: this work analyzed the influence of home range shape and landscape variables on tiger movement characteristics. A model was developed that integrates spatiotemperal data to develop a simulation model for movement. Real tracking data were then used to parameterize and validate the simulation. The work did not model high level behaviors (e.g. hunting) that drive large scale, or landscape scale movement patterns. This is the next step. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. This work is too new to produce key outcomes or accomplishments. Objective 3: Use model to evaluate proposed land use configurations applicable to landscape scale planning elsewhere globally: 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted; the first model was just developed in 2015 and accomplished the first step which was model validation of tiger movement and home range features. 2) Data collected; Data have been collected (are are continuing to be collected) for next step in model development. Potentially have data from 40 tigers for future model development. 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results: no results yet. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized: none yet. Objective 4: Collaborate to map and anlayze presence/absence of tigers to assess relative distribution for management purposes: 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted; Occupancy surveys to map distribution of tigers and other large mammals are underway in Thailand and Nepal and have been initiated in NE China. 2) Data collected; Occupancy surveys have been conducted for 3 years with an undergraduate class from U Minnesota in Thailand. A different group of students has conducted an occupancy survey in Parsa Wildlife Reserve, Nepal. In NE China, occupancy is being employed in conjunction with camera trap sampling for tigers and leopards. There surveys collect presence and absence of animals by recording tracks along transects in appropriate habitat. A larger scale occupancy survey has been completed by a Thai graduate student at U of Minnesota focusing on large mammals except for tigers in WEFCOM. 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results: High occupancy rates for WEFCOM have been documented in the work within the Khao Nang Rum research station study area. Much lower occupancy was identified in Parsa Wildlife Reserve in Nepal but this was expected due to heavy human influence (poaching of prey) in the area. The Thai graduate student is still analyzing the occupancy data for other large mammals. In China, data have demonstrated tigers and leopards produced in Russia are crossing the border and establishing in small numbers in NE China. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. Results have let to discussions with government biologists on management needs. For example, in Parsa Reserve, Nepal, low but persistent tiger numbers demonstrate that if poaching of prey can be reduced/eliminated, tiger numbers will likely increase. In China, slow immigration of tigers and leopards into NE China from Russia suggest that if habitat can be improved (i.e. through reduction of livestock grazing in forests; reduction of possible prey poaching) on a landscape scale, it is possible to restore the once viable populations of both species in this region in China. A landscape plan has been proposed in a recent publication.
Publications
|
Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Thailand; the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Nepal; the State Forestry Administration, China and the Provincial Forest Office, Yunnan, China; scientists globally who study large carnivore conservation. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Both the work in Thailand and Nepal provided opportunties for undergraduate students (25) from the University of Minnesota to participate in ongoing large carnivore research as well as undertake indpendent projects during two study abroad courses in 2015. In Nepal, students were trained and conducted the second occupancy survey for tigers and large mammals in Parsa Reserve, adjacent to Chitwan National Park. Also, I am advising 2 Thai graduate students working on two different aspects of research (large mammal landscape genetic study; large mammal occupancy surveys) under this project. In addition to my assistance to them as they finish their degrees, I arranged for one to spend several months at USFWS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in the U.S. to work with one of the statisticians there on occupancy analysis. An undergraduate student from U of Colorado, working with me and other colleagues, visited Thailand to work with Thai staff in preparation for developing the movement model for tigers and to learn the methods of data acquisition. Through new interactions with a group of faculty from Beijing Normal University, I arranged for them to visit the research station (Khao Nang Rum) in Thailand to work with scientists there to learn how to use a stripe pattern identity software and to confirm tiger identies from their large camera trap project in NE China. In Nepal I facilitated a visit by a USFWS statistician to work with staff and also U Minnesota undergraduates on occupancy survey analysis. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?This year 3 peer-reviewed publications were produced through my interactions with colleagues from Beijing Normal University. These have been distributed to the global community interested in landscape scale movement of large carnivores. Reports from funded projects were distributed to funding agencies and were submitted to in country government agencies. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The next reporting period will focus on further modifications and application of the movement model developed for Thailand's tigers.. With colleagues we have submitted a pre-proposal to NSF for possible funding to continue and expand this work. We are also continuing to capture and collar tigers to continue work on movement and basic ecology of tigers in Thailand's Western Forest Complex (WEFCOM). We will continue to map and analyze presence/absence of tigers and other large mammals in WEFCOM through an extension of this work into the northern portion of this large complex and from the PhD dissertations of two Thai graduate students who plan to complete their degrees in 2016. Work in Nepal will expand the tiger conflict study to examine the impact of wildlife conflict on the lives of rural women (with a new graduate student) and the work in China will focus on continuing to monitor and map the movement of large carnivores between Russia and NE China.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Impact of project: This project is the first to acquire significant information on the biology of tigers in Southeast Asia using GPS satellite technology and to apply results to conservation efforts. Knowledge of animal movement, application of data to realistic models and presence/absence maps is required for protecting this globally important population of tigers and results and methods developed are also relevant for other studies of large mammals in Asia and North America. Methods developed in Thailand are now being applied in Nepal and China. The project has also resulted in training of professionals and students in Thailand, Nepal, China and the U.S. Objective 1: Initiate first in depth study of tiger ecology/behavior at landscape scale using satellite GPS collars: 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted; in 2015 an additional 4 new animals were captured and fitted with satellite collars bringing sample to about 40 animals monitored since 2009 (beginning of tiger research in Thailand). In 2015 a major focus was animal movement, prey killing ecology and competition between tigers and leopards. A project was developed to extend tiger capture to an adjacent protected area, Tung Yai East to the north. This work will start in 2016. Location data on individual animals allowed investigators to visit kill sites after tigers left the area to determine prey species; prey age; habitat variables associated with site and other activiies at the site based on animal tracks. Data have not been analyzed but major prey of tigers are banteng, sambar, gaur and wild boar. Analysis of tiger and leopard scats wre finalized and a manuscript is in preparation for publication on competition between leopards and tigers. The question that has emerged is whether or not leopards suppress tiger numbers. Results demonstrate that there is high overlap in diet between the two species with few differences by season. The key discovery of interest is that leopards are switching to killing young prey during the peak birth season of ungulates which ultimately means leopards are limiting survival of prey to the size preferred by tigers. These results may indicate why leopards occur at >2x the density of tigers and suggest they could be limiting tiger numbers in the Thailand study area which is an important variable not previously considered in tiger conservation. 2) Data collected: Movement data are transmitted to researchers in Thailand and the U.S. on a daily basis via satellite. Researchers explored frequency of collection (can be controlled electronically) to determine best balance of data acquisition and battery life. Location data are used to map animal movement, study leopard/tiger interactions and identify sites where tiger have killed prey. For each tiger we receive a location every hour or about 670 locations/month. 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results: 4 new tigers collared, bringing to total approximately 40 animals for which we have movement data. For individuals with collars active for an entire year (most animals), location points are approximately 8000. Kill site analysis shows major prey species in the WEFCOM are banteng, sambar, gaur and wild boar. This diet has high overlap (.84) with leopards; leopards remove high percent of subadult prey animals during birthing season suggesting indirect competition may suppress tiger numbers by removal of prey before prey reaches size preferred by tigers. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized.: Data on movement have been used to develop initial model to predict tiger behavior which has potential for application to conservation as well as to other landscape scale studies of animal movement elsewhere in world. Results on tiger/leopard diet overlap is too new for a larger outcome but has led to discussion among government scientists on the potential role of leopards in suppressing tiger numbers. Analysis of kill site study has not been formally completed yet. Objective 2: Develop individual based, realistic model to evaluate management scenarios for a large carnivore at level of large landscape: 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted; the first working model was developed in 2015 and a manuscript has been submitted to International Journal of Geographical Information Science. 2) Data collected; For this model, location data for only two tigers were used to develop and validate the model. These data were collected previously and represented about 16,000 individual locations. 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results: this work analyzed the influence of home range shape and landscape variables on tiger movement characteristics. A model was developed that integrates spatiotemperal data to develop a simulation model for movement. Real tracking data were then used to parameterize and validate the simulation. The work did not model high level behaviors (e.g. hunting) that drive large scale, or landscape scale movement patterns. This is the next step. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. This work is too new to produce key outcomes or accomplishments. Objective 3: Use model to evaluate proposed land use configurations applicable to landscape scale planning elsewhere globally: 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted; the first model was just developed in 2015 and accomplished the first step which was model validation of tiger movement and home range features. 2) Data collected; Data have been collected (are are continuing to be collected) for next step in model development. Potentially have data from 40 tigers for future model development. 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results: no results yet. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized: none yet. Objective 4: Collaborate to map and anlayze presence/absence of tigers to assess relative distribution for management purposes: 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted; Occupancy surveys to map distribution of tigers and other large mammals are underway in Thailand and Nepal and have been initiated in NE China. 2) Data collected; Occupancy surveys have been conducted for 3 years with an undergraduate class from U Minnesota in Thailand. A different group of students has conducted an occupancy survey in Parsa Wildlife Reserve, Nepal. In NE China, occupancy is being employed in conjunction with camera trap sampling for tigers and leopards. There surveys collect presence and absence of animals by recording tracks along transects in appropriate habitat. A larger scale occupancy survey has been completed by a Thai graduate student at U of Minnesota focusing on large mammals except for tigers in WEFCOM. 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results: High occupancy rates for WEFCOM have been documented in the work within the Khao Nang Rum research station study area. Much lower occupancy was identified in Parsa Wildlife Reserve in Nepal but this was expected due to heavy human influence (poaching of prey) in the area. The Thai graduate student is still analyzing the occupancy data for other large mammals. In China, data have demonstrated tigers and leopards produced in Russia are crossing the border and establishing in small numbers in NE China. 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. Results have let to discussions with government biologists on management needs. For example, in Parsa Reserve, Nepal, low but persistent tiger numbers demonstrate that if poaching of prey can be reduced/eliminated, tiger numbers will likely increase. In China, slow immigration of tigers and leopards into NE China from Russia suggest that if habitat can be improved (i.e. through reduction of livestock grazing in forests; reduction of possible prey poaching) on a landscape scale, it is possible to restore the once viable populations of both species in this region in China. A landscape plan has been proposed in a recent publication.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Wang, T.M., Feng, L.M., Yang, H. Han, B. Zhao, Y. Juan, L., Lu, X, Zou, L, Li, T. Xiao, W. Mou, P., Smith, J.L.D., Ge, J. Accepted with minor revisions. A science based approach to guide Amur leopard recovery in China. Biological Conservation.
Wang, T.M., Feng, L.M., Mou, P., Wu, J.G., Smith, J.L.D., Xiao, W.H., Yang, H.T., Dou, H.L., Zhao, X.D., Cheng, Y.C., Zhou, B., Wu, H.Y., Zhang, L., Tian, Y., Guo, Q.X., Kou, X.J., Han, X.M., Miguelle, D.G., Oliver, C.D., Xu, R.M., Ge, J.P., 2015. Amur tigers and leopards returning to China: direct evidence and a landscape conservation plan. Landscape Ecol., DOI 10.1007/s10980-10015-10278-10981.
Wang, T.M., Feng, L.M., Mou, P., Ge, J.P., Li, C., Smith, J.L.D., 2015. Long-distance dispersal of an Amur tiger indicates potential to restore the North-east China/Russian Tiger Landscape. Oryx 49, 578-579.
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Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Thailand; the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Nepal; the State Forestry Administration, China and the Provincial Forest Office, Yunnan, China. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? This project contributed to the completion of a PhD on tiger ecology by Dr. Achara Simcharoen, biologist at the tiger research station in Thailand. This project provided an opportunity to conduct an undergraduate course in which students from the University of Minnesota participated in ongoing research. Similarly, a second international course for U Minnesota undergraduates participated in tiger and prey occupancy surveys in Nepal. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? In additional to publication of research in peer-reviewed journals, a report was prepared on the research in Thailand for the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation for their use in protected area planning. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? During the next reporting period, I will be completing this project and plan to submit a proposal to analyze tiger movements to help model tiger behavior in relation to prey abundance, human activities and landscape features.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Large mammals, especially predators like tigers, bears, wolves, lions are declining globally. This project seeks to link the biology of tigers to high priority conservation needs for large carnivores in North America, Asia and globally, in order to address common management problems at a landscape scale. Objectives are to 1) initiate the first in depth study of tiger ecology and behavior at a landscape scale using satellite GPS collars, 2) develop a realistic model to evaluate management scenarios for a large carnivore at the level of a large landscape, 3) use the model to evaluate various real and proposed land use configurations that can be applied in North America and Asia to landscape scale planning and 4) collaborate with partners to map and analyze presence and absence of tigers in study locations and to assess the relative distribution of the tigers to establish management and patrolling strategies. Impacts of this project allow protected area staff to focus patrolling and management activities in areas of habitat preferred by tigers. Female home range size and number of female home ranges within a population were shown to be a better measurement for assessing the resilience of tiger populations than simple tiger numbers. Monitoring and assessment of small populations need to focus on the real but difficult to measure impact of inbreeding depression. This finding applies to tiger populations in Asia as well as the isolated wolf population on Isle Royale in Lake Superior, North America. Monitoring and assessment of small populations need to focus on the real but difficult to measure impact of inbreeding depression. This finding applies to tiger populations in Asia as well as the isolated wolf population on Isle Royale in Lake Superior, North America. Occupancy surveys of large carnivores are now a critical tool in landscape scale conservation planning. Project Goals and Objectives 1. Initiate first in depth study of tiger ecology and behavior at a landscape scale using GPS satellite collars. a) Major activities completed / experiments conducted: 6 tigers were radio collared in 2014. Analysis of female home range size in relation to ecological correlates was completed. Analysis of tiger prey abundance in relation to ecological correlates was also finalized. b) Data collected: Animal locations, rates of movement, directionality of movement and location of tiger kill sites were collected. c) Summary statistics and discussion of results: Tiger prey abundance was positively correlated to large low slope areas and negatively correlated to dry dipterocarp forests and high rugged elevations. Female home range size was highly correlated to prey biomass of ungulates weighing greater than 100 kg. d) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. Research focused on the importance of determining carnivore carrying capacity rather than simply making population estimates. These results have allowed protected area staff to focus patrolling and management activities in areas of habitat preferred by tigers. Female home range size and number of female home ranges within a population were shown to be a better measurement for assessing the resilience of tiger populations than simple tiger numbers. 2. Develop a realistic model to evaluate management scenarios for a large carnivore at the level of a large landscape. a) Major activities completed / experiments conducted: a model was developed to examine the impact of inbreeding and interpopulation connectivity on tiger population viability. b) Data collected: data to inform the model were previously collected. c) Summary statistics and discussion of results: isolated tiger populations of less than 12 breeding females have a low probability of surviving unless they can be linked by habitat to larger populations. d) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. Monitoring and assessment of small populations need to focus on the real but difficult to measure impact of inbreeding depression. This finding applies to tiger populations in Asia as well as the isolated wolf population on Isle Royale in Lake Superior, North America. 3. Use the model to evaluate various real and proposed landuse configurations that can be applied in North America and Asia to landscape scale planning. a) Major activities completed / experiments conducted: the model was used to plan tiger recovery activities in Thailand's Western Forest Complex and along the Laos/Yunnan China border. b) Data collected: No data were collected for this objective in 2014. Those used were collected earlier in this project. c) Summary statistics and discussion of results: Across the tiger's range there are only 4-5 tiger populations that are viable without management intervention for the next 100+ years. d) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized: Inbreeding depression has been shown to be a serious threat to small endangered carniore populations but it is difficult to measure the impact of inbreeding depression until it is almost too late for management intervention. 4. Collaborate with partners to map and analyze presence and absence of tigers in study locations and to assess distribution and relative abundance of tigers to establish management and patrolling strategies. a) Major activities completed / experiments conducted: An occupancy survey conducted from 2010-2012 was analyzed and areas where tigers have been recently extirpated were identified. A proposal was submitted to recover tigers in a target area as a pilot for developing a comprehensive approach to tiger recovery. This work was done in collaboration with the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation in Thailand. In Nepal, a preliminary occupancy survey of Parsa Wildlife Reserve was undertaken in collaboration with staff from the Biodiversity Conservation Center to develop protocol for determining tiger breeding habitat. b) Data collected: Data were collected during previous study years. c) Summary statistics and discussion of results: tiger prey occurrence was negatively correlated to human activity. Tiger occurrence was positively correlated to presence of large ungulates and negatively correlated to human activities. d) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized: Occupancy surveys of large carnivores are a critical tool in landscape scale conservation planning.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Kenney, J. F.W. Allendorf, C. McDougal and J.L.D. Smith. 2014. How much gene flow is needed to avoid inbreeding depression in wild tiger populations? Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.?2014;281(1789). doi: 10.1098/rspb.2013.3337.
Luo, S., Z. Yue, W.E. Johnson, L. Miao, P. Martelli, A. Antunes, J.L.D. Smith and S.J. OBrien. 2014. Sympatric Asian felid phylogeography reveals a major Indochinese-Sundaic divergence
Molecular Ecology.?23(8):2072-2092.
Simcharoen, A., T. Savini, G.A. Gale, S. Simcharoen; S. Duangchantrasiri, S. Pakpien and J.L.D. Smith. 2014. Female tiger, Panthera tigris, home range size and prey abundance: Important metrics for management. ORYX 48(3):370-377.
Simcharoen, A., T. Savini, G.A. Gale, E. Roche, V. Chimchome and J.L.D. Smith. 2014. Ecological factors that influence sambar (Rusa unicolor) distribution and abundance in western Thailand: Implications for tiger conservation. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology.?62:100-106.
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Progress 01/01/13 to 09/30/13
Outputs
Target Audience: Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Thailand; the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Nepal; the State Forestry Administration, China and the Provincial Forest Office, Yunnan, China. Changes/Problems: N/A What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? I collaborated, consulted or advised the following colleagues in Asia: 1. Dr. Saksit Simchareon, Director of Wildlife Research, Region 12, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Thailand 2. Ms. Achara Simchareon, Researcher, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Thailand 3. Dr. Bhim Gurung, Research Associate, UMN 4. Dr. Theerapat Prayurissidhi, Deputy Director General, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Thailand 5. Dr. Adam Barlow, Tiger Coordinator, Zoological Society of London, 6. Dr. Li Zang, Technical Director of Conservation International (China) 7. Worata Klimsawat, Ph.D. student 8. Pornkamol Jomburom,Ph.D. student, Thailand; 9. Sean Ahearn, Professor, Hunter College; 10. Li Quang, Saving China's Tigers; 11. Lujun, Consultant, State Forestry Administration, China; 12. Wang Weishin, Deputy Director, State Forestry Administration, China, Dr. Naresh Subedhi, and Dr. Chiran Pokharel. .In Thailand, I worked with Dr. Achara Simcharoen on 3 papers on tiger carrying capacity research. I also worked with Dr. Saksit Simcharoen on a manuscript on the dietary overlap of tigers and leopards.. Drs Simcharoen, Dr. Cuthbert (faculty member at UMN) and I brought 9 UMN students for a study abroad expereince at the research site where we are conducting tiger research and trained the students in several phases of tiger research. Two additional students, Emily Erhart and Zachary Beach, spent 2 months in Thailand in summer 2013 where they were supervised on independent research projects. I also worked to train or arrange training opportunities for PhD graduate students Worata Klimsawat and Pornkamol Jomburom who are pursuing research on large carnivores in Thailand and China, respectively. In Nepal I worked with Drs. Chiran Pokharal and Naresh Subedhi to develop a tiger proposal that was submitted to continue the project that I have been working on to reduce human tiger conflict. Dr. Subehi and I traveled to Washington D.C. in November to meet with Dr. James Hines and Dr. James Nichols, who are statistical consultants at the Paturent Wildlife Research Lab. We also met with the Program Officer at USFWS for the Rhinoceross Tiger Fund. Drs. Subedhi, Pokharal, Cuthbert (UMN) and Current (UMN) developed and conducted a semester abroad program for UMN students. Part of this program involved training students to conduct ongoing collaborative tiger research desribed above. In China I consulted with Dr. Lemin at Beijing Normal University on his occupancy survey of tigers and their prey in Northeast China, and I worked on a tiger reintroduction program with Lujun and Wang Weishin of the State Forestry Administration. I also co-authored a paper with Drs. Li Zang and Femin on the distribution of tigers and abundance of prey in Yunnan, China. I also visited Dr. Shujin Luo, a former student, who is now a professor at Peking University to review the progress of Worwata Klimsawat whom I am advising at UMN. She is conducting genetic research in Dr. Luo's lab and Dr. Luo is training her in advanced molecular techniques. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? In Chitwan National Park, Nepal, three workshops were held to train staff of community forest user groups and park rangers on how to reduce tiger-human conflicts. In Thailand, research on female tiger home range size determined that home range size increased with distance from the Huai Kha Khaeng River and increasing percentage of dry dipterocarp forest. These results provide a measure of tiger carrying capacity in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary which is critical information for wildlife managers. These results were reported in a peer reviewed journal. In China I participated in a workshop that proposed a model to re-establish a wild population of tigers in Xishingbanna Reserve, Yunnan, China. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? The goal of this study is to link the biology of tigers to high priority conservation needs for large carnivores in North America, Asia and globally. During the next reporting period I will focus on the objectives as follows: (1) initiate the first in depth study of tiger ecology and behavior at a landscape scale using satellite GPS collars. We will extend the geographic scope of the research in Thailand across the 19,000 square km Western Forest Complex to include other protected areas beyond Huai Kha Khaeng; this will involve deploying additional GPS collars and conducting prey assessments at these new sites; (2) develop an individual based, realistic model to evaluate management scenarios for a large carnivore at the level of a large landscape (66,000 km2). Dr. Achara Simcharoen will visit UMN to collaborate with faculty in my department and also with a colleague (Dr. Sean Ahearn) at Hunter College in New York, City. These faculty have expertise on animal movement modeling. We will use data we are collecting from the GPS collars on tiger movements to build realistic individual based models of tigers to understand how they use different landscapes. (3) use the model to evaluate various real and proposed land use configurations that can be applied in North America and Asia to landscape scale planning. This objective is tied to objective 2. Results from the modeling efforts will be use to propose protected area configurations advantageous to large carnivore survival. (4) collaborate with partners to map and analyze presence and absence of tigers in study locations and to assess the relative distribution of tigers to establish management and patrolling strategies. This final objective will be advanced through continued advising of a PhD student in Thailand who is focused on using occupancy models to predict tiger presence and absence in the Western Forest Complex.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This study has four objectives that link the biology of tigers to high priority conservation needs for large carnivores in North America, Asia and globally. The first objective is to initiate the first in depth study of tiger ecology and behavior at a landscape scale using satellite GPS collars. In Thailand, I continued this work including addition of 6 new satellite collars on tigers. Data were incorporated into 2 publications on tiger home range and tiger prey. The second objective, to develop an individual based, realistic model to evaluate management scenarios, was addressed by focusing on the spatial distribution of tiger populations and inbreeding using long term data from Nepal. The model developed under objective 2, meets objective 3 as it makes management predictions that can be applied widely. I worked with a graduate student to address objective 4. She is collaborating with the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation and Wildlife Conservation Society to conduct occupancy surveys in Thailand that will predict presence of tigers in different landscapes.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Simcharoen, A. T. Savini, G. Gale, E. Roche, V. Chimchome and J.L.D.Smith. In Press. Ecological factors that influence sambar distribution and abundance in western Thailand: implications for tiger conservation. Raffles.
Simcharoen, A. T. Savini, G. Gale, S. Simcharoen, S. Duangchantrasiri, S. Pakpien and J.L.D. Smith. In Press. Female tiger home range size and prey abundance: important management metrics. Oryx.
Elkan, P.W. and J.L.D. Smith. 2013. Bongo, Tragelaphus euryceros. In: Mammals of Africa Vol VI, Eds. J. Kingdon and M. Hoffmann. Bloomsbury Press, London. Pp. 179-185.
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Progress 01/01/12 to 12/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: This study has four objectives that link the biology of tigers to high priority conservation needs for large carnivores in North America, Asia and globally. In Bangladesh I consulted as part of a team of tiger biologists working in India and Russia on developing monitoring protocols, tiger human conflict response and a tiger research agenda. I also helped establish a collaboration between Peking University and the Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh to analyze genetic samples from the Sundarbans tiger population. In Nepal, I facilitated a tiger human conflict workshop to respond to problem tigers living in the buffer zone of Chitwan National Park. I traveled to Nepal to explore a second phase of this project, which is funded by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In Thailand, I continued research on satellite transmitter equipped tigers and worked with Thai colleagues to determine the prey and habitat requirements of female tigers and their offspring. In February and March of 2012 a Thai Ph.D. student visited my lab at the U of Minnesota where we worked on analyzing data on female home range size and carrying capacity. In November I traveled to Thailand to review research progress on an analysis of tiger prey abundance in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary and tiger scat samples were collected at 5 sites in Thailand as a part a landscape genetic analysis of habitat connectivity. Finally, I worked with the State Forest Administration of China and Saving China's Tigers to plan a reintroduction of tigers in southern China. We proposed a new reintroduction site in Yunann where a few wild tigers may still occur. PARTICIPANTS: 1. Dr. Saksit Simchareon, Director of Wildlife Research, Region 12, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Thailand 2. Ms. Achara Simchareon, Researcher, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Thailand 3. Dr. Bhim Gurung, Research Associate, UMN 4. Dr. Theerapat Prayurissidhi, Deputy Director General, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Thailand 5. Dr. Adam Barlow, Tiger Coordinator, Zoological Society of London and Dr. Li Zang, Technical Director of Conservation International (China) 6. Worata Klimsawat, Ph.D. student 7. Pornkamol Jomburom,Ph.D. student, Thailand; 8. Sean Ahearn, Professor, Hunter College; 9. Li Quang, Saving China's Tigers; 10. Lujun, Consultant, State Forestry Administration, China; 11. Wang Weishin, Deputy Director, State Forestry Administration, China. TARGET AUDIENCES: 1. Department of Forest, Bangladesh 2. Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Nepal 3. Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Thailand 4. Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Cambodia 5. Yunnan Forest Department, China 6. State Forestry Administration, China. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
In Chitwan National Park, Nepal three tiger human workshops were held to train staff of community forest user groups and park rangers on how to reduce tiger-human conflicts. In Thailand, research on female tiger home range size determined that home range size increased with distance from the Huai Kha Khaeng River and increasing percentage of dry dipterocarp forest. These results provide a measure of tiger carrying capacity in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary which is critical information for wildlife managers.
Publications
- Allendorf,T. B.Gurung, and J.L.D. Smith. 2011. Community based monitoring of tigers in Nepal. In: The Tarai, History, Society, Environment. A. Guneratne, Ed. Himal Books, Kathmandu, Nepal. p. 132-150.
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Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: This study has four objectives that link the biology of tigers to high priority conservation needs for large carnivores in North America, Asia and globally. In Bangladesh I worked with a former student on a study of female home range size and the value of the mangrove ecosystem for this species. I also served on a Bangladesh MS student's thesis project on tiger occupancy which is related to the objectives of this research. In Nepal, I proposed research on the behavior and management of tigers living in the buffer zone of Chitwan National Park. This project was funded by USFWS. In Thailand, I continued research on satellite transmitter equipped tigers and worked with Thai colleagues to determine the prey and habitat requirements of female tigers and their offspring. In the fall of 2011 a Thai researcher spent 4 months at the U of Minnesota where we worked on analyzing data and writing up one part of the Thailand research. I also participated as an instructor in a Smithsonian/World Bank tiger range state training workshop held in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary (HKKWS) in 2011. In China, a post doc traveled to Yunnan and Laos to hold workshops on MIST patrolling and he conducted a recce survey for tigers in Nam Ha Reserve in Laos. Results of the tiger research have been disseminated through workshops, the Thailand Tiger Action Plan, at professional meetings and at the Global Tiger Forum. PARTICIPANTS: 1. Dr. Saksit Simchareon, Director of Wildlife Research, Region 12, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Thailand 2. Ms. Achara Simchareon, Researcher, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Thailand 3. Dr. Bhim Gurung, Research Associate, UMN 4. Dr. Theerapat Prayurissidhi, Deputy Director General, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Thailand 5. Dr. Adam Barlow, Tiger Coordinator, Zoological Society of London and Dr. Li Zang, Technical Director of Conservation International (China) TARGET AUDIENCES: 1. Department of Forest, Bangladesh 2. Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Nepal 3. Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Thailand 4. Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Cambodia 5. Yunnan Forest Department, China PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
The goal of the project in Thailand is to develop capacity of government officers in the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation to conduct long term planning for tiger conservation. A critical component from a landscape perspective is to determine the carrying capacity of tigers. This will enable landscape scale planning to ensure that individual tiger populations are viable or are linked in a landscape to ensure viability at the metapopulation level. The research is helping to shift management from the level of individual protected areas to a landscape perspective that will manage groups of contiguous protected areas and a landscape unit described as a forest complex. Work in the other countries will have a similar impact.
Publications
- Barlow, A.C.D., J.L.D. Smith, I.U. Ahmad, A.N.M. Hossain, M. Rahman and A. Howlader. 2011. Female tiger, Panthera tigris, home range size in the Bangladesh Sundarbans: the value of this ecosystem for species conservation. Oryx 45: 125-128.
- P. M. Kapfer, H.M. Streby, B. Gurung. A. Simcharoen, C. McDougal, and J.L.D. Smith. 2011. 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. Wildlife Biology 17: 277-285.
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Progress 01/01/10 to 12/31/10
Outputs
OUTPUTS: I was co-author of the 2010 Thailand Tiger Action Plan and a Vision for Thailand's Tigers which are publications produced by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) as part of a Global Tiger Initiative sponsored by the World Bank. I also helped write briefing papers for the Minister and Prime Minister of Thailand to deliver at the Global Tiger forum meetings in Thailand and Russia. I served on the committee of a Ph.D. student and raised funds from USFWS for her Ph.D. research on tiger carrying capacity, which is a project under my Hatch funding. In September I was invited to a symposium, Modeling Human and Animal Movement, in Zurich, Switzerland, and traveled to South Africa to consult on a tiger re-wilding project. My role was to evaluate tigers to determine if they had the behavioral skills for reintroduction in the wild in China. In October and November I traveled to Thailand and Vietnam as a participant in a USAID Emerging Pandemic Threats Project. My role was to bring a landscape scale large mammal perspective to the development of projects that will provide regional training in emerging disease response. I proposed three projects and two were accepted and I have been the lead in initiating them. The funded projects will train rangers and DNP veterinarians. PARTICIPANTS: Dr. Bhim Gurung and Dr. Som Ale were research associates who worked on my AES project in 2010. Gurung worked on human tiger conflict and Ale's research was on snow leopard dependence on domestic yaks as a food source. Both projects are at the landscape scale and involve the interface between human dominated areas and protected areas. I served on the committee of Ms. Achara Simchareon and raised funds from USFWS for her Ph.D. research on tiger carrying capacity, which is a project under my Hatch funding. TARGET AUDIENCES: Most work in this project is provided to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation in Thailand, the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation in Nepal, and the Forest Department in Bangladesh. The focus is on management and conservation. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
With a colleague from Hunter College, I continued to develop an individual based, realistic tiger movement model. We are using a hidden Markov approach to relate tiger movement to behavior. To accomplish this we need to observe tiger behavior during a time period where we have movement data at 1 hour intervals. We traveled 1-5 days in the forest to sites that a tiger recently vacated and then interpreted tiger spoor and kills to infer behavior. This research was presented at an invited symposium Modeling Human and Animal Movement and this paper was published in a Symposium proceedings. We continued to estimate absolute abundance of tiger prey by measuring fecal accumulation and using data on ungulate defecation rate. A model was developed that simulated a range of spatial patterns of fecal deposition to help develop a sampling strategy.
Publications
- Smith, J.L.D., C. McDougal, B. Gurung, N. Shrestha, M. Shrestha, T. Allendorf, A. Joshi, and N. Dhakal. 2010. Securing the Future for Nepal's Tigers: Lessons from the Past and Present. In Ronald Tilson and Philip J. Nyhus (eds.), Tigers of the World (2nd ed.), Elsivier Press.
- Seidensticker,J., J.L.D. Smith. 2010. Tiger range collapse and recovery at the base of the Himalayas. D.W. MacDonald and A. J. Loveridge, eds. Biology and Conservation of Wild Felids. Oxford.
- Luo, Shujin, W.E. Johnson, J.L.D. Smith and S.J. O'Brien. 2010. What is a Tiger Genetics and Phylogeography. In Ronald Tilson and Philip J. Nyhus (eds.), Tigers of the World (2nd ed.)
- Barlow, A.C.D., C.J. Greenwood, I.U. Ahmad, and J.L.D. Smith. 2010, Use of an Action-Selection Framework for Human-Carnivore Conflict in the Bangladesh Sundarbans. Conservation Biology.
- Gurung, B., K. Nelson, J.L.D. Smith. 2010. Impact of a conservation policy: grazing restrictions on livestock composition and husbandry practices. Environmental Conservation 36:1-10.
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Progress 01/01/09 to 12/31/09
Outputs
OUTPUTS: 1. In Nepal, I attended a World Bank conference to establish a Global Tiger Initiative to conserve tigers that are now globally at a critical stage where declining populations far out number secure or increasing populations. The purpose of the meeting was to start formulating action to conserve tigers based on pooling experiences of managers across all tiger range states. A researcher reported to the Nepalese Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation the increase in human killing by tigers in the past 12 years. A system was developed that used local villagers to serve as citizen rangers who patrolled to reduce illegal poaching. 2. In Thailand we conducted research on tiger carrying capacity by capturing 4 tigers and fitted them with satellite collars. Our objective was to determine the relationship between female home range size and prey abundance in a female's home range. Home range of females was ~55-65 km^2. Within the home range of the collared females we estimated prey abundance by counting pellet groups accumulated within 30 days and dividing by the daily defecation rate of banteng (Guarus banteng) and samber (Cervus unicolor). We are continuing to capture tigers to increase sample size of female tigers and also expanding our prey pellet data. In Nepal, Bangladesh and Yunnan, China we are also estimating prey abundance and the relative abundance and occurrence of tigers. 3. In Bangladesh a survey of relative abundance of tigers was completed by surveying over 1000 km of tidal streams. A rapid response team was formed to deal with human killing and other aspects of human tiger conflict. A community based conservation program was started by organizing local committees composed of a cross section of local stakeholders. A government tiger action plan was drafted, submitted and adopted by the government of Bangladesh. 4. In Yunnan, China, we conducted workshops to train rangers to survey for tigers and their prey and then 2 workshops to present results of tiger surveys. After the data were presented to Forestry officials we worked with them to draft a proposal to expand monitoring and patrolling over a much larger landscape extending into northern Laos. PARTICIPANTS: 1. Dr. Som Ale joined the Collaborative Laboratory for Asian Wildlife Studies (CLAWS) in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology as a research associate. 2. Dr. Bhim Gurung became a research associate in CLAWS. 3. Mr. Sun Hean is a Ph.D. student in CLAWS working in Cambodia. 4. Dr. Rodney Jackson became a CLAWS collaborator and a co-adviser of Dr. Som Ale. 5. Dr. Sean Ahearn, Hunter College, continued his collaboration with CLAWS and conducted research with Smith in Thailand 6. Dr. Adam Barlow finished his Ph.D. and became an adviser of the Sundarbans Tiger Project. 7. Dr. Li Zhang and Smith collaborated on the Yunnan/Laos tiger assessment. 8. Mr. Lujun and Mr. Wang Weishin are the State Forestry Administration collaborators on the Yunnan Tiger Project. 9. Mr. Ishtiaq Ahmed is the Forest Department Project Director of the Sundarbans Tiger Project and a Ph.D. student in CLAWS 10. Mr. John Kenney returned to graduate school to continue his Ph.D. research modeling inbreeding depression in tigers. 11. Mr. Narayan Dhakal is completing his Ph.D. on social aspects of conservation in the Nepalese lowlands. He is co-advised by Kristen Nelson in the Department of Forest Resources, UMN. 12. Dr. Smith serves as a project adviser and research collaborator with Dr. Saksit Simchareon, Mrs. Achara Simcareon and Somphot Duangchantrasiri on the Saving Thailand's Tiger Project 13. Dr. Peter Cutter, who finished his Ph.D. in 2009, co-teaches a University of Minnesota field course in Thailand with Dr. Smith. TARGET AUDIENCES: Not relevant to this project. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
My research was conducted in several Asian countries where tigers occur. Outcomes are reported by country: Nepal: Two Nepalese carnivore biologists, experts on tigers and snow leopards, started post docs in my lab. We have raised funding for their support and they are continuing to prepare and submit proposals. One biologist started his field work and recruited a field team working on snow leopards in the Mt. Everest region of Nepal. The other researcher received grants to start field work in early 2010. One researcher is finishing his Ph.D. research on the economic, social and biological impacts on a voluntary resettlement program Bangladesh: Another researcher completed his PhD dissertation in 2009 and started a post doc with the Bangladesh Trust for Nature and the London Zoological Society. After several years of receiving grants via the University of Minnesota from the USFWS, I decided to turn over the project to be administered by the Bangladesh Trust for Nature Conservation. Shifting the project to Bangladesh administration has been a long term goal I set in cooperation with USFWS which has funded the Sundarbans Tiger Project since 2001. In 2009 the project produced the Bangladesh Tiger Action Plan which serves as a government and NGO guide to undertaking tiger conservation. Thailand: I supported 3 Thai researchers to present the outcomes of the Thailand Tiger Project at the Society of Conservation Biology meeting held in Beijing in July. One researcher finished his Ph.D. and joined World Wildlife Fund as a regional ecologist stationed in Thailand. He and I contributed as editors to the Thailand Tiger Action Plan. I continued to advise a Ph.D. student on her fishing cat project and we obtained funding from Panthera and Disney for her research. She radio collared 13 animals in 2009. I accepted a new Ph.D. student from Thailand who will investigate the phylogeography of elephants in Thailand. Yunnan, China: I concluded the first phase of a tiger assessment in Yunnan China and helped draft a proposal submitted by Conservation International to assess tigers and to start a patrolling monitoring system in Xishingbanna Reserve in Yunnan and in Nam Ha Reserve in Laos. I submitted and received funding to train field managers and staff from Yunnan and Laos on a patrolling/monitoring system. The training will take place at a wildlife sanctuary in Thailand. A Ph.D. student initiated his research to market carbon under the new World Bank initiative to reduce emissions in degraded and destroyed forests (REDD).
Publications
- Barlow, A.C.D, C.McDougal, J.L.D.Smith, B.Gurunga, Shiv R. Bhattac, Sukram Kumalb, Baburam Mahatob, and Dhan B. Tamang. 2009.Temporal Variation in Tiger (Panthera tigris) Populations and Its Implications for Monitoring. Journal of Mammalogy 90(2):472-478.
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Progress 01/01/08 to 12/31/08
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Two graduate students completed their PhD dissertations under my direction and related to this project. Their research focused on various aspects of tiger behavior and human response to tiger behavior in wild and human dominated landscapes. Both researchers addressed a complicating factor in establishing the relationship of prey abundance to home range size. Tigers in the environment where they worked exhibited human-killing behavior. To gain insight into factors that might influence this behavior and its relationship to tiger abundance and survival of young, one student analyzed human-killing by tigers in Chitwan National Park, Nepal, and its buffer zone, over a 28 year period. He compared two time periods. The first, 1979-1997, was prior to the advent of community forestry in the lowlands of Nepal and the second was from 1998-2006 and covered the period as community forestry became widespread surrounding the national park and extending across the entire Nepalese lowlands. Roughly a 7 fold increase in human-killing was recorded from the first period to the second. We attribute this increase to an unanticipated effect of local communities restoring forests. As forest biomass increased, the food base for large ungulates increased and there was a cascading effect of increased tiger numbers and increased human-killing in Chitwan National Park and adjacent community forests. An additional output of this research in Nepal are 2 proposals submitted in 2008 that address human tiger conflict and human use of community forests. These proposals and other fund raising will support Dr. Bhim Gurung as a UMN Research Associate; his research supports a common theme of community participation that is a major thrust of our lab, the Collaborative Laboratory for Asian Wildlife Studies, http://claws.umn.edu/projects/index.html. A second study focused on human tiger conflict on an even more massive scale in the Sundarbans of Bangladesh. Approximately 40 people a year are officially reported as killed by tigers over the past 26 years and the unofficial toll may be double that number. Research has sought to understand human-killing. This research has also trained local people to be members of a tiger rapid response team. This team separates people and tigers once conflict occurs and also speeds peoples' evacuation to hospitals from 1-2 days to just 4 hours. PARTICIPANTS: In 2008, my lab consisted of of 7 graduate students all involved in the research discussed above: Bhim Gurung and Narayan Dhakal (Nepal); Adam Barlow, Ishtiaq Ahmed, and Anwar Hossain (Bangladesh); Peter Cutter and Pasananan Cutter (Thailand) I also collaborate closely with Dr. Saksit Simcareon and Ms. Achara Simchareon and their research team on the Saving Thailand's Tiger project. We have enlisted as a member of our Thailand research team a former undergraduate from the University of Minnesota. In Nepal I collaborate with World Wildlife Fund Nepal through a MOU and with the National Trust for Conservation through the University of Minnesota Office of International Programs funded grant. In China, I am working with the State Forestry Administration and the Provincial Forestry Office of Yunnan. Collaborators on this project include Conservation International (China) and a former graduate student, Dr. Shujin Luo. In Bangladesh I am collaborating with Dr. Anwarul Islam and the Department of Forests to establish the Bangladesh Conservation Fund as the organization to coordinate research in the Sundarbans. TARGET AUDIENCES: Our primary target audiences are the Forest, National Park, and Wildlife departments with whom we work. Much of our research is applied conservation with the goal of increasing the knowledge and tools for large mammal conservation in Asia. We also work closely with local people to help them play an increasing role in co-management. A part of this effort is to show both local people and resource agencies in Asia that local people can contribute as citizen scientists. In the USA we are attempting to develop techniques that can be used in both Asia and North America so that we can compare large ungulate abundance across very different ecosystems in both the tropical and temperate forest ecosystems. A tertiary audience are the graduate and undergraduate students of our University. For many years, including 2008, our CLAWS lab has fostered diversity at the University of Minnesota. Last year I had a Fulbright Exchange Professor from Nepal specializing in gender issues and community forestry. I also have 9 graduate students working in Asia; seven of them are from Asia. As a group we are implementing projects related to my AES proposal. Also in 2008 I organized an undergraduate class in Thailand, which undertook research that directly supported my AES project. The students research helped me develop a proposal on prey abundance that was funded by USFWS in 2008. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Our project follows an adaptive research model and changes to respond to conservation needs and funding. However, the central theme remains to develop landscape scale land use plans that incorporate wild and human dominated lands to further large mammal conservation. The original focus was Thailand but parallel work is ongoing in Nepal, Bangladesh and China.
Impacts
A key objective of the research is to measure prey abundance and to relate prey biomass to female home range size. To accomplish this objective we radio collared 2 females and 1 male tiger in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand, and obtained several hundred locations from each tiger collared. We are analyzing female home range size, which ranged from 56 to 65 km2, in relation to direct and indirect indices (pellet counts) of prey abundance. Our goal is to estimate the strength of the inverse correlation between prey abundance and home range size. We plan to purchase collars for continued tiger collaring in 2009. The importance of the tiger home range size/prey abundance research is 2 fold. It provides managers with a measure of the success of management efforts. Female tiger home range size is a direct measure of tiger carrying capacity. Prey abundance is an indirect measure, but has much finer resolution than female home range. The research on human-killing by tigers is critical to long term tiger conservation. Without intervention into this conflict, humans often respond with retribution killing of tigers. In addition to human-killing, tiger depredation of livestock further erodes support for tiger conservation, and more generally, biodiversity conservation. In Nepal there is a need to address human tiger conflict immediately because of the drastic increase in number of people killed in the past 10 years. We hypothesize that this increase is a direct result of local communities acquiring a legal mechanism to restore forests. Additionally, there has also been an increase in understanding of the importance of ecological services on the quality of human life. These two factors have led to the widespread and rapid increase in forest restoration as villagers establish community forestry user groups (CFUGs). The obvious, but unforeseen consequence of increased human killing, was totally unanticipated 12-15 years ago as conservationists struggled to save tigers in Nepal. Another study addressed human killing by tigers in Bangladesh. This analysis focused on the extent of human killing, its geographic location within the Bangladesh portion of the Sundarbans ecosystem, and the relation between frequency of killing and human activity and forest cover type.
Publications
- Gurung, B.; Smith, J.L.D.; McDougal,C.; Karki J.; & Barlow, A.C.D. 2008. Factors associated with human-killing tigers in Chitwan National Park. Biological Conservation 141: 3069-3078.
- Barlow, A.C.D., Ahmed, I.U; Rahman, M.; Howlader, A.; Smith, A.C.; and Smith, J.L.D. 2008. Linking monitoring and intervention for improved management of tigers in the Sundarbans of Bangladesh. Biological Conservation 141: 2032-2040.
- Simchereon, S.; Barlow, A.C.D; Simchareon, A. and Smith, J.L.D. 2008. Home range size and daytime habitat selection by leopards in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. Biological Conservation. 141:2242-2250.
- Luo, S.J., Johnson, W.E.; Martenson, J; Antunes, A.; Martelli, P.; Uphyrkina, O.; Traylor-Holzer, K.; Smith, J.L.D. and O'Brien, S.J. 2008. Subspecies genetic ancestry of worldwide captive tiger populations. Current Biology 18:592-596.
- Ranganathan, J.; Chan, K.M.A.; Karanth, K.U. and Smith, J.L.D. 2008. Where can tigers persist in the future A landscape-scale, density-based population model for the Indian Subcontinent. Biological Conservation 141: 67-77.
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