A preliminary investigation of Sundarbans tiger morphology

Barlow, Adam; Mazák, Ji H.; Ahmad, I.; Smith, James L.

doi:10.1515/mamm.2010.040

Cited by 14 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, there is no information about the genetic makeup and diversity of the Sundarbans tigers, which are threatened by habitat destruction, prey depletion, direct tiger loss (due to human-tiger conflict), and climate change [ 4 , 9 ]. In order to investigate if Sundarbans tigers have characteristics that distinguish them from other mainland tiger populations, Barlow et al [ 10 ] compared five tiger skulls from the Bangladesh Sundarbans with 175 skulls representing nine tiger subspecies (also including three that are already extinct). Surprisingly, they found that the skulls of Sundarbans tigers were smaller and significantly different from all other subspecies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tigers of Sundarbans in India: Is the Population a Separate Conservation Unit?

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Sundarbans tiger inhabits a unique mangrove habitat and are morphologically distinct from the recognized tiger subspecies in terms of skull morphometrics and body size. Thus, there is an urgent need to assess their ecological and genetic distinctiveness and determine if Sundarbans tigers should be defined and managed as separate conservation unit. We utilized nine microsatellites and 3 kb from four mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genes to estimate genetic variability, population structure, demographic parameters and visualize historic and contemporary connectivity among tiger populations from Sundarbans and mainland India. We also evaluated the traits that determine exchangeability or adaptive differences among tiger populations. Data from both markers suggest that Sundarbans tiger is not a separate tiger subspecies and should be regarded as Bengal tiger (P. t. tigris) subspecies. Maximum likelihood phylogenetic analyses of the mtDNA data revealed reciprocal monophyly. Genetic differentiation was found stronger for mtDNA than nuclear DNA. Microsatellite markers indicated low genetic variation in Sundarbans tigers (He= 0.58) as compared to other mainland populations, such as northern and Peninsular (Hebetween 0.67- 0.70). Molecular data supports migration between mainland and Sundarbans populations until very recent times. We attribute this reduction in gene flow to accelerated fragmentation and habitat alteration in the landscape over the past few centuries. Demographic analyses suggest that Sundarbans tigers have diverged recently from peninsular tiger population within last 2000 years. Sundarbans tigers are the most divergent group of Bengal tigers, and ecologically non-exchangeable with other tiger populations, and thus should be managed as a separate “evolutionarily significant unit” (ESU) following the adaptive evolutionary conservation (AEC) concept.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tigers of Sundarbans in India: Is the Population a Separate Conservation Unit?

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Generally, Amur tigers are large and have pale orange fur, whereas tigers from the Sunda Islands tend to be smaller and have darker, thickly striped pelages [11]. Bengal tigers are the largest type [31], although tigers from the Sundarbans in Bangladesh appear smaller than other Bengal tigers [32]. The overall absence of diagnostic morphological traits supports the hypothesis that a severe late Pleistocene demographic bottleneck probably extensively reduced genetic variation in the tiger.…”

Section: Selection and Local Adaptation In Tiger Subspeciesmentioning

confidence: 95%

Genome-Wide Evolutionary Analysis of Natural History and Adaptation in the World’s Tigers

et al. 2018

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For instance, radio-collaring studies have revealed that tigers rarely cross the rivers wider than 400 m in India Sundarbans (Naha et al 2016) as well as 600 m in Bangladesh Sundarbans (Barlow 2009), suggesting that tiger movement might have been compromised by wide rivers in this mangrove forests. Several studies have highlighted the morphological adaptation (Barlow et al 2010) and genetic distinctiveness (Singh et al 2015) of the Sundarbans tigers, however none have examined the effect of barriers on the fine-scale genetic structure of the population. Understanding how landscape barriers facilitate or deter gene flow is a high priority management need for an endangered population surviving in a changing forest habitat (Sork and Waits 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%