Understanding the impact of habitat fragmentation on sympatric Large Carnivore connectivity across Tiger Reserves in Maharashtra, India

Abstract

This study is an effort to understand the impact of habitat fragmentation on the connectivity of sympatric large carnivores across the tiger reserves of Maharashtra. The top predator assemblage in Maharashtra's major tiger reserves and surrounding areas consist of three species: tiger, leopard, and dhole. Most connectivity studies focus on the single species, which does not incorporate other species' requirements and conservation interests. As a result, given the current context of haphazard development, there is a need to develop a multispecies conservation plan that focuses on multidimensional aspects for several species of interest. Given this, the current study was conducted in major tiger reserves and surrounding protected areas, i.e., Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR), Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), Nawegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR), Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR), Sahyadri Tiger Reserve (STR), Umred Karandhla Wildlife Sanctuary (UKWLS) in the state of Maharashtra. The objectives of the study were to (i) Develop and standardise molecular markers for species and individual identification, (ii) Meta-population dynamics of tiger, leopard and Asiatic wild dog across the tiger reserves of Maharashtra, (iii) Impact of habitat fragmentation on the gene flow and genetic connectivity across the habitat connectivity gradient of the tiger reserves. The three species from the major carnivore guild suggests that landscape genetic patterns respond to the ecological differences in habitat characteristics, and disturbance can differentially affect landscape genetic structure. The study develops a framework for the landscape genetic study of any species starting from the sampling to understanding the impact of habitat fragmentation on the functional as well as structural connectivity of these species. The empirical findings of this study provide an outlook to delineate the corridor planning as per species need and do not follow the one for all approach. This study also developed the first PCR based protocol for dhole species identification and a better individual identification panel. The study will help in introducing species-specific modifications in connectivity corridors planning. It has paved the way to consider the requirements of each species while establishing priority-based conservation. As obtained in this study, landscape genetics outputs, coupled with multispecies connectivity models, could help prioritise the conservation of areas where maintaining connectivity is most critical.