Estimating the Population Size and Genetic Diversity of Amur Tigers in Northeast China

Abstract

Over the past century, the endangered Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) has experienced a severe contraction in demography and geographic range because of habitat loss, poaching, and prey depletion. In its historical home in Northeast China, there appears to be a single tiger population that includes tigers in Southwest Primorye and Northeast China; however, the current demographic status of this population is uncertain. Information on the abundance, distribution and genetic diversity of this population for assessing the efficacy of conservation interventions are scarce. We used noninvasive genetic detection data from scats, capture-recapture models and an accumulation curve method to estimate the abundance of Amur tigers in Northeast China. We identified 11 individual tigers (6 females and 5 males) using 10 microsatellite loci in three nature reserves between April 2013 and May 2015. These tigers are confined primarily to a Hunchun Nature Reserve along the border with Russia, with an estimated population abundance of 9–11 tigers during the winter of 2014–2015. They showed a low level of genetic diversity. The mean number of alleles per locus was 2.60 and expected and observed heterozygosity were 0.42 and 0.49, respectively. We also documented long-distance dispersal (~270 km) of a male Amur tiger to Huangnihe Nature Reserve from the border, suggesting that the expansion of neighboring Russian populations may eventually help sustain Chinese populations. However, the small and isolated population recorded by this study demonstrate that there is an urgent need for more intensive regional management to create a tiger-permeable landscape and increased genetic connectivity with other populations.

Prey selection of Amur tigers in relation to the spatiotemporal overlap with prey across the Sino–Russian border

“…The remaining 27 scats were unidentifiable using DNA and discarded from analysis. At least 9 tigers were identified from the scats used, which was confirmed by our previous DNA analysis (Dou et al 2016). Six prey species were identified in tiger faeces (Table 1).…”

“…These routes were patrolled systematically by trained field staff and researchers in HNR in search of scats from November 2014 to April 2015 ( Fig. 1) (Dou et al 2016). We identified tiger scats based on mitochondrial DNA analysis (Dou et al 2016).…”

Dispersal of Amur tiger from spatial distribution and genetics within the eastern Changbai mountain of China

“…Second, the distribution of villages, roads, farmland, and other infrastructure has a negative effect on prey and on the Amur tiger itself. These factors also affect tiger movement and their ability to breed successfully in the environment (Li et al, 2017;Wang, Feng, et al, ).…”

“…The Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) is an flagship species and before the 20th century was widely distributed in northeastern China, the Korean Peninsula, and the southern part of the Russian Far East (Sugimoto, Nagata, Aramilev, & McCullough, 2012;Dou et al, 2016). After the middle of the 20th century, excessive poaching, habitat loss, and habitat fragmentation led to a rapid decrease in population numbers and habitat range (Wang, Feng, et al, ;Sugimoto et al, 2012;Dou et al, 2016). Now, fewer than 400 Amur tigers survive in Russia and the eastern region of northeastern China (Kerley et al, 2015).…”

Camera‐trapping provides insights into adult sex ratio variability in felids

“…Genetic analyses of Amur tiger scats in Northeast China found an almost balanced sex ratio (45%; Dou et al. ), whereas a female‐biased sex ratio (29%) was observed for pumas in West‐Central Montana (Proffitt et al. ) and in NorthEast Oregon (Davidson et al.…”