Maintaining tiger connectivity and minimizing extinction into the next century: Insights from landscape genetics and spatially-explicit simulations

Thatte, Prachi; Joshi, Aditya; Vaidyanathan, Srinivas; Landguth, Erin L.; Ramakrishnan, Uma

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2017.12.022

Cited by 105 publications

(112 citation statements)

References 55 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

106

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our results revealed differential impact of roads on our study species. Only roads with high intensity of traffic were found to offer high cost to tiger movement (results were consistent with individual-based analysis used in this study and population-based analysis carried out with a subset of tiger samples from this study in Thatte, Joshi, et al, 2018)…”

Section: Human Footprint Impacts All Four Speciessupporting

confidence: 87%

“…We sampled nine protected areas: out of which (1) Kanha Tiger Forest Division (KHA) and (9) South Seoni Forest Division (SEO). Tiger samples collected and used in this study were also a part of Thatte, Joshi, et al (2018). The scat samples collected between 2012 and 2015 were stored in 30-mL-wide mouth bottles containing absolute alcohol.…”

Section: Study Area and Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Habitat destruction and fragmentation due to human footprint is degrading habitat quality and increasing extinction risk of mammals globally (Crooks et al, 2017). Dispersal and genetic exchange between habitat fragments is critical for reducing extinction risk, maintaining genetic diversity and persistence of subdivided populations (Moilanen & Nieminen, 2002;Thatte, Joshi, Vaidyanathan, Landguth, & Ramakrishnan, 2018). Maintaining connectivity is hence recognized as a key factor in conservation and management of endangered mammal species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Classified as a global priority tiger conservation landscape, it is a stronghold in terms of mammal distribution and abundance (Jhala, Qureshi, & Gopal, 2015). Several studies have investigated tiger connectivity in the landscape (Joshi et al, 2013;Reddy, Cushman, Srivastava, Sarkar, & Shivaji, 2017;Sharma et al, 2013;Thatte, Joshi, et al, 2018;Yumnam et al, 2014). However, there is a dearth of information on habitat and population connectivity for other sympatric species (Dutta, Sharma, Maldonado, Panwar, & Seidensticker, 2015;Dutta et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Human footprint differentially impacts genetic connectivity of four wide‐ranging mammals in a fragmented landscape

Thatte

Chandramouli

Tyagi

et al. 2019

Diversity and Distributions

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim Maintaining connectivity is critical for long‐term persistence of wild carnivores in landscapes fragmented due to anthropogenic activity. We examined spatial genetic structure and the impact of landscape features on genetic structure in four widespread species—jungle cat (Felis chaus), leopard (Panthera pardus), sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) and tiger (Panthera tigris). Location Our study was carried out in the central Indian landscape, a stronghold in terms of distribution and abundance of large mammals. The landscape comprises fragmented forests embedded in a heterogeneous matrix of multiple land use types. Methods Microsatellite data from non‐invasively sampled individuals (90 jungle cats, 82 leopards, 104 sloth bears and 117 tigers) were used to investigate genetic differentiation. Impact of landscape features on genetic structure was inferred using a multimodel landscape resistance optimization approach. Results All four study species revealed significant isolation by distance (IBD). The correlation between genetic and geographic distance was significant only over a short distance for jungle cat, followed by longer distances for sloth bear, leopard and tiger. Overall, human footprint had a high negative impact on gene flow in tigers, followed by leopards, sloth bears and the least on jungle cats. Individual landscape variables—land use, human population density, density of linear features and roads—impacted the study species differently. Although land use was found to be an important variable explaining genetic structure for all four species, the amount of variation explained, and the optimum spatial resolution and the resistance values of different land use classes varied. Main conclusions As expected from theory, but rarely demonstrated using empirical data, the pattern of spatial autocorrelation of genetic variation scaled with dispersal ability and density of the study species. Landscape genetic analyses revealed species‐specific impact of landscape features and provided insights into interactions between species biology and landscape structure. Our results emphasize the need for incorporating functional connectivity data from multiple species for landscape‐level conservation planning.

show abstract

Section: Human Footprint Impacts All Four Speciessupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Study Area and Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Human footprint differentially impacts genetic connectivity of four wide‐ranging mammals in a fragmented landscape

Thatte

Chandramouli

Tyagi

et al. 2019

Diversity and Distributions

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…More recently, human-driven habitat alteration, fragmentation and destruction, among other drivers of biodiversity loss, are fuelling the decline and subdivision of populations into small and isolated fragments where random genetic drift becomes the main evolutionary force. The result is often the loss of genetic variation, an increase in inbreeding in the population, and the genetic differentiation among populations (Benazzo et al, 2017;Srbek-Araujo, Haag, Chiarello, Salzano, & Eizirik, 2018;Thatte, Joshi, Vaidyanathan, Landguth, & Ramakrishnan, 2018). Recent, human-driven genetic divergence among populations must be considered together with the effects of long-term evolution in isolation, which enable adaptive divergence and, eventually, speciation, as possible factors shaping current genetic patterns (Allendorf, Luikart, & Aitken, 2013;Frankham, Ballou, & Briscoe, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomic patterns in the widespread Eurasian lynx shaped by Late Quaternary climatic fluctuations and anthropogenic impacts

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Disentangling the contribution of long‐term evolutionary processes and recent anthropogenic impacts to current genetic patterns of wildlife species is key to assessing genetic risks and designing conservation strategies. Here, we used 80 whole nuclear genomes and 96 mitogenomes from populations of the Eurasian lynx covering a range of conservation statuses, climatic zones and subspecies across Eurasia to infer the demographic history, reconstruct genetic patterns, and discuss the influence of long‐term isolation and/or more recent human‐driven changes. Our results show that Eurasian lynx populations shared a common history until 100,000 years ago, when Asian and European populations started to diverge and both entered a period of continuous and widespread decline, with western populations, except Kirov, maintaining lower effective sizes than eastern populations. Population declines and increased isolation in more recent times probably drove the genetic differentiation between geographically and ecologically close westernmost European populations. By contrast, and despite the wide range of habitats covered, populations are quite homogeneous genetically across the Asian range, showing a pattern of isolation by distance and providing little genetic support for the several proposed subspecies. Mitogenomic and nuclear divergences and population declines starting during the Late Pleistocene can be mostly attributed to climatic fluctuations and early human influence, but the widespread and sustained decline since the Holocene is more probably the consequence of anthropogenic impacts which intensified in recent centuries, especially in western Europe. Genetic erosion in isolated European populations and lack of evidence for long‐term isolation argue for the restoration of lost population connectivity.

show abstract

Inferring population connectivity in eastern massasauga rattlesnakes (Sistruruscatenatus) using landscape genetics

Martin

Peterman

Lipps

et al. 2023

Ecological Applications

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Assessing the environmental factors that influence the ability of a threatened species to move through a landscape can be used to identify conservation actions that connect isolated populations. However, direct observations of species' movement are often limited, making the development of alternate approaches necessary. Here we use landscape genetic analyses to assess the impact of landscape features on the movement of individuals between local populations of a threatened snake, the eastern massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus). We linked connectivity data with habitat information from two landscapes of similar size: a large region of unfragmented habitat and a previously studied fragmented landscape consisting of isolated patches of habitat. We used this analysis to identify features of the landscape where modification or acquisition would enhance population connectivity in the fragmented region. We found evidence that current connectivity was impacted by both contemporary land‐cover features, especially roads, and inherent landscape features such as elevation. Next, we derived estimates of expected movement ability using a recently developed pedigree‐based approach and least‐cost paths through the unfragmented landscape. We then used our pedigree and resistance map to estimate resistance polygons of the potential extent for S. catenatus movement in the fragmented landscape. These polygons identify possible sites for future corridors connecting currently isolated populations in this landscape by linking the impact of future habitat modification or land acquisition to dispersal ability in this species. Overall, our study shows how modeling landscape resistance across differently fragmented landscapes can identify habitat features that affect contemporary movement in threatened species in fragmented landscapes and how this information can be used to guide mitigation actions whose goal is to connect isolated populations.

show abstract

Maintaining tiger connectivity and minimizing extinction into the next century: Insights from landscape genetics and spatially-explicit simulations

Cited by 105 publications

References 55 publications

Human footprint differentially impacts genetic connectivity of four wide‐ranging mammals in a fragmented landscape

Human footprint differentially impacts genetic connectivity of four wide‐ranging mammals in a fragmented landscape

Genomic patterns in the widespread Eurasian lynx shaped by Late Quaternary climatic fluctuations and anthropogenic impacts

Inferring population connectivity in eastern massasauga rattlesnakes (Sistruruscatenatus) using landscape genetics

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About