Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.
Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
PLoS One. 2024 Oct 23;19(10):e0309517. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0309517. eCollection 2024.
Large carnivores play a crucial role in the ecosystem, though their conservation needs a landscape-level approach due to their wide range of habitats and dispersal events. The study of tigers in a human-dominated landscape matrix and their adaptation and adjustment of movement behaviours during the dispersal phase is essential for long-term conservation planning and management policy. We studied the dispersal event of five VHF/GPS collared individuals during 2009-2020. We investigated movement parameters (step length), and the effects of anthropogenic pressures (distance from village), distance from water and vegetation cover, on behavioural phase under a Hidden Markov Model framework. We also tested the effects of distance from village, vegetation cover, and habitat types on animal movement using an integrated Step Selection Function framework. The mean step length (405.44±10.63 m/hr) varied widely by different time of day. Displacement was high during the night (665.28±21.36 m/hr) compared to day (434.16±17.37 m/hr). Tigers moved fast (872.7m; 95% CI 839.1-906.3m) with longer step length and a directional turning angle in non-forested areas (i.e. the human-dominated landscape), likely to avoid conflict with humans. Individuals distinctly exhibited two behavioural states: encamping (32% of the time) and travelling (68% of the time). Further, they avoided the human-dominated landscape and mostly remained in and forested areas, especially during nighttime. Our study is the first attempt to understand behavioural transition of dispersal tigers and their habitat selection. Lesser anthropogenic disturbance and high vegetation cover positively influenced the tiger dispersal, while water availability did not affect their state transitional probability. Additionally, dispersers showed high affinity towards forested land during nighttime for travelling.The findings of this study show the importance of functional corridors and stepping stones (mostly encamping areas), and also provide baseline knowledge for integrated landscape management planning and policymaking for the long-term survival of tigers in metapopulation framework.
大型食肉动物在生态系统中起着至关重要的作用，但由于它们的栖息地范围广泛且存在扩散事件，因此需要采用景观水平的方法来保护它们。研究人类主导的景观基质中的老虎及其在扩散阶段的运动行为的适应和调整，对于长期保护规划和管理政策至关重要。我们研究了 2009 年至 2020 年间五只 VHF/GPS 项圈个体的扩散事件。我们在隐马尔可夫模型框架下研究了运动参数（步长）以及人为压力（距离村庄）、距离水源和植被覆盖度对行为阶段的影响。我们还使用综合步长选择函数框架研究了距离村庄、植被覆盖度和栖息地类型对动物运动的影响。平均步长（405.44±10.63 m/hr）在不同的时间变化很大。夜间（665.28±21.36 m/hr）的位移比白天（434.16±17.37 m/hr）高。老虎在非森林地区（即人类主导的景观）移动速度很快（872.7m；95%置信区间 839.1-906.3m），步长较长，转向角度较大，以避免与人类发生冲突。个体明显表现出两种行为状态：露营（约 32%的时间）和旅行（约 68%的时间）。此外，它们避开了人类主导的景观，大部分时间都在森林地区，特别是在夜间。我们的研究首次尝试了解扩散老虎的行为转变及其栖息地选择。人为干扰较小和高植被覆盖度对老虎的扩散产生了积极影响，而水的可获得性并不影响它们的状态转换概率。此外，扩散者在夜间对森林地区的旅行表现出很高的亲和力。这项研究的结果表明了功能走廊和踏脚石（主要是露营区）的重要性，并为老虎在复合种群框架下的长期生存提供了综合景观管理规划和决策的基线知识。
