Biological Conservation

Volume 252,December 2020, 108848

Demographic and ecological correlates of a recovering tiger (Panthera tigris) population: Lessons learnt from 13-years of monitoring

AuthorsAbishekHariharabcBivashPandavcMousumiGhosh-HarihardJohnGoodrichahttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108848

Highlights

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Understanding demography of recovering populations can improve conservation efforts.•

We monitored a recovering tiger population for 13years and estimated demographic parameters.•

Density, female survival and tenure increased in disturbance-free zone.•

Density increased, but survival and female tenure lower in a zone with pastoralist presence.•

Inviolate, prey-rich areas with connectivity to source populations are critical for natural recoveries.

Abstract

Efforts are on to recover tiger populations range-wide, but we lack suitable metrics to characterise and evaluate such recoveries. Identifying such metrics requires an understanding of tiger population dynamics and its ecological correlates in either recovering populations or those exposed to anthropogenic influences. We monitored a recovering tiger population from 2004 to 2017 in Rajaji National Park, India…