Genetic analyses reveal demographic decline and population differentiation in an endangered social carnivore, Asiatic wild dog

Abstract

Deforestation and agricultural intensification have resulted in an alarming change in the global land cover over the past 300 years, posing a threat to species conservation. Dhole is a monophyletic, social canid and, being an endangered and highly forest-dependent species, is more prone to the loss of favorable habitat in the Anthropocene. We determined the genetic differentiation and demographic history of dhole across the tiger reserves of Maharashtra using the microsatellite data of 305 individuals. Simulation-based analyses revealed a 77–85% decline in the major dhole sub-populations. Protected areas have provided refuge to the historically declining dhole population resulting in clustering with strong genetic structure in the remnant dhole population. The historical population decline coincides with the extreme events in the landscape over the past 300 years. The study highlights the pattern of genetic differentiation and diversity of a highly forest-dependent species which can be associated with the loss of forest cover outside tiger reserves. It also warrants attention to develop conservation plans for the remnant surviving population of dholes in India.

Genetic evidence of differential dispersal pattern in the Asiatic wild dog: Comparing two populations with different pack sizes

“…We expected that the bias in the dispersal pattern, if there is any, would be more evident in the TATR population compared to the NNTR population. We found a strong genetic differentiation with five genetic clusters across the major protected areas of Maharashtra and each subpopulation exhibiting its own signature in our previous study on dhole population genetics (Modi et al, 2021). Based on the findings, we expected the nature of dispersal to be short and within the sub-population.…”

Feeding ecology of the endangered Asiatic wild dogs (Cuon alpinus) across tropical forests of the Central Indian Landscape

“…We also recorded any undigested plant material found in the scats (mostly bamboo leaves). We corroborated the identity of a subset of scats (n = 623) at the species level using genetic analysis 63,64 . Scats that were highly degraded or had too few identifiable prey remains were removed from the analysis.…”

“…We also corroborated our field identification skills by using molecular tools. To ensure the dataset was robust, we genetically verified a subset of freshly collected scats (n = 623) correctly assigned for 100% of the samples 63,64 . Therefore, there was a minimal potential for misidentification of scats of dholes from other carnivores, limiting bias in our results.…”

The Panel Spatial Econometric Analysis for Development of Green Intensive Agriculture Based on Edge Computing and Internet of Things

“…w ij 2 is equal to 1 when the distance between area i and the area j is less than d , and it equals to 0 in other cases. Spatial econometric analysis can explain the law in parameter value changings and influencing factors of a common attribute in two adjacent regions, and it can analyze the relationship between the two spaces, which is also the biggest difference between spatial econometric analysis method and general econometric model [ 19 ]. The spatial econometric model studies the change of spatial attributes between different regions.…”