Fine-scale population genetic structure of the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) in a human-dominated western Terai Arc Landscape, India

Singh, Sujeet Kumar; Aspi, Jouni; Kvist, Laura; Sharma, Reeta; Pandey, Puneet; Mishra, Saurabh; Singh, Randeep; Agrawal, Manoj Kumar; Goyal, Surendra Prakash

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0174371

Cited by 17 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 92 publications

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The process of landscape modification may impose barriers to gene flow [2][3][4], which in turn reduces the genetic diversity and decreases population viability in long term [2,5]. Several species are already in a process of genetic diversity and presenting certain level of isolation of their populations [3,4,[6][7][8]. Even those species with generalist habits or high dispersal behavior have already experienced negative genetic consequences (e.g., gene flow reduction and population structuring) in human-modified landscapes [2][3][4]9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several species are already in a process of genetic diversity and presenting certain level of isolation of their populations [3,4,[6][7][8]. Even those species with generalist habits or high dispersal behavior have already experienced negative genetic consequences (e.g., gene flow reduction and population structuring) in human-modified landscapes [2][3][4]9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, human activities may impose barriers-such as roads, monocultures, and urban areas-negatively affecting individual dispersal and thus gene flow and demographic aspects, even for those species with high dispersal capacity and greater tolerance to the effects of anthropic activities [2,4,9,11]. As a consequence, carnivores have been increasingly restricted to small areas, have been reduced to few individuals [10], and may show genetic population structuring due to fragmentation [2,4,10,11]. Both study areas are within an intense human-modified landscape, which presents low vegetation cover distributed in small fragments [19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evidence of Recent Fine-Scale Population Structuring in South American Puma concolor

Saranholi¹,

Chávez-Congrains²,

Galetti³

2017

Diversity

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Habitat loss and fragmentation are considered the major treats to worldwide biodiversity. Carnivores in particular can be more sensitive to landscape modification due to their low occurrence density and large home ranges. Population structuring of Puma concolor has been already reported as a consequence of extensive human activities in the North American continent. Here, we investigated the occurrence of fine-scale population structuring in the South American cougar population, contrasting two conservation areas immersed in a highly human-fragmented landscape dominated by the presence of sugar cane monoculture, roads, and urbanization, including a series of dams in the Tietê River which enlarges its water body. Seven microsatellites were amplified using non-invasive DNA obtained from fecal samples. We conducted genetic clustering analyses using Bayesian and factorial components. We also performed genetic differentiation analyses by fixation indices (F st and D est ). Two genetic clusters represented by individuals from each area were found, indicating the occurrence of gene flow reduction between the areas. The intense human-induced landscape modification-which includes the Tietê River water body enlargement, imposing physical barriers to the movement of the individuals-could explain the gene flow reduction. Increasing connectivity among the preserved areas can mitigate such effects, and the creation of corridors or further management actions such as individual translocation to ensure gene flow in the highly-modified landscape may be essential for maintaining the genetic and demographic health of the species and its long-term persistence.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Evidence of Recent Fine-Scale Population Structuring in South American Puma concolor

Saranholi¹,

Chávez-Congrains²,

Galetti³

2017

Diversity

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“…We implemented the admixture ancestry model with correlated allele frequencies. The putative numbers of population clusters ( K ) were allowed to vary from one to 10 with 50,000 burn‐in iterations and 500,000 Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) iterations (Ishtiaq, Prakash, Green, & Johnson, ; Singh et al, ). A total of 20 independent runs were performed for each K (1–10) to achieve consistency across the runs.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Noninvasive sampling reveals population genetic structure in the Royle’s pika, Ochotona roylei, in the western Himalaya

Bhattacharyya

Ishtiaq

2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Understanding population genetic structure of climate‐sensitive herbivore species is important as it provides useful insights on how shifts in environmental conditions can alter their distribution and abundance. Herbivore responses to the environment can have a strong indirect cascading effect on community structure. This is particularly important for Royle's pika (Lagomorpha: Ochotona roylei), a herbivorous talus‐dwelling species in alpine ecosystem, which forms a major prey base for many carnivores in the Himalayan arc. In this study, we used seven polymorphic microsatellite loci to detect evidence for recent changes in genetic diversity and population structure in Royle's pika across five locations sampled between 8 and 160 km apart in the western Himalaya. Using four clustering approaches, we found the presence of significant contemporary genetic structure in Royle's pika populations. The detected genetic structure could be primarily attributed to the landscape features in alpine habitat (e.g., wide lowland valleys, rivers) that may act as semipermeable barriers to gene flow and distribution of food plants, which are key determinants in spatial distribution of herbivores. Pika showed low inbreeding coefficients (F IS) and a high level of pairwise relatedness for individuals within 1 km suggesting low dispersal abilities of talus‐dwelling pikas. We have found evidence of a recent population bottleneck, possibly due to effects of environmental disturbances (e.g., snow melting patterns or thermal stress). Our results reveal significant evidence of isolation by distance in genetic differentiation (F ST range = 0.04–0.19). This is the first population genetics study on Royle's pika, which helps to address evolutionary consequences of climate change which are expected to significantly affect the distribution and population dynamics in this talus‐dwelling species.

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Local ecological knowledge and education drive farmers' contrasting perceptions of scavengers and their function in Nepal

et al. 2022

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There is a long‐standing relationship between humans and vertebrate scavengers, as scavengers' contributions take on regulating (e.g. nutrient recycling and disease control), material (e.g. competition and livestock depredation) and non‐material (e.g. sky burials and ecotourism) roles in society. A social–ecological approach to studying biodiversity is increasingly needed, since the inclusion of local perceptions and knowledge has proven critical for effective conservation programs and ecosystem management. We examine livestock farmers' perceptions and knowledge related to vertebrate scavengers in the highly diverse Chitwan‐Annapurna Landscape (Nepal) and assess the socio‐demographic traits that influence their perceived value of scavengers' ecosystem service provisioning (ESP) index, and function via scavenging services (SS). Farmers' perceptions of functional importance (SS) showed species‐specific gradation, unlike ESP, where only avian scavengers were perceived as beneficial. Our results show that the perception of scavenging as a beneficial ecosystem service and its importance as a biological function are decoupled for facultative scavengers and coupled for obligate scavengers. Relatedly, we identify that affluence‐related traits drove positive perceptions of ESP, and local ecological knowledge‐based traits were linked to increased knowledge of function via SS. Thus, this increased awareness of functional importance based on close contact with nature does not guarantee positive valuations of scavengers' contributions, whereas formal education did influence positive perceptions despite reduced awareness of function. Additionally, our findings suggest that existing environmental education measures are targeting the right groups, as these respondents coincide with lower favourability of scavengers' ecosystem services, but may be unable to overcome existing human–wildlife conflict. For the first time in South Asia, we survey relevant community stakeholder's attitudes towards an entire scavenging guild and their associated benefits, detriments and functional importance. Our study illustrates the varied perceptions that exist for different scavenger species and closely examines a wide‐ranging set of socio‐demographic traits that show disparate influences on farmers' knowledge of ecological function and perceived ecosystem service benefits. Crucially, these findings can guide conservation and management priorities by considering the differences in public perception and awareness of scavenging, as well as the interpretation of nature's contribution to people. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Fine-scale population genetic structure of the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) in a human-dominated western Terai Arc Landscape, India

Cited by 17 publications

References 92 publications

Evidence of Recent Fine-Scale Population Structuring in South American Puma concolor

Evidence of Recent Fine-Scale Population Structuring in South American Puma concolor

Noninvasive sampling reveals population genetic structure in the Royle’s pika, Ochotona roylei, in the western Himalaya

Local ecological knowledge and education drive farmers' contrasting perceptions of scavengers and their function in Nepal

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