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Swamp Deer is an endemic species of the Indian subcontinent, mainly inhabiting tall grasslands in river floodplains. Populations of the northern subspecies (Rucervus duvaucelii duvaucelii), restricted to the Terai regions of northern India and western Nepal, have undergone dramatic declines over the past two─three decades. In this communication, we present results from systematic population counts conducted in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve between 2021─2022. These counts were conducted at 11 sites, each with two─three independent observers. The exercises covered summer, monsoon, post-monsoon, and winter seasons. We found the largest congregations of Swamp Deer in June during the summer and February in winter. In the monsoon months of July─September the Swamp Deer tend to use Sal woodlands along with farmlands adjoining the reserve edge. This is part of an ongoing research project on long-term monitoring and conservation of the threatened alluvial grasslands of the central Terai in Uttar Pradesh, India. Institutionalizing these monitoring practices for frontline forest staff is essential for understanding long-term population dynamics of the threatened Swamp Deer to develop conservation protocols for grasslands and their fauna.

Biodiversity conservation and human well-being are tightly interlinked; yet mismatches in the scale at which both priorities are planned and implemented have exacerbated biodiversity loss, erosion of ecosystem services, and declining human quality of life. India houses the second largest human population on the planet, while land-sharingandland-sparingapproaches, and co-production of ecosystem services. Through a multi-faceted assessment, we prioritize spatial extents of land parcels that, in the face of anthropogenic threats, can safeguard conservation landscapes across India’s biogeographic zones. We find that only a fraction (~15%) of such priority areas identified here are encompassed under India’s extant PA network, and several landscapes of high importance were omitted in all previous global-scale assessments. We then examined the spatial congruence of priority areas with administrative units earmarked for economic development by the Indian government, and propose management-zoning through state-driven and participatory approaches. Our spatially explicit insights can help meet the twin goals of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in India and other countries across the Global South.

The conservation of large carnivores in human-dominated landscapes needs to be reconciled with the safety of humans and domestic animals. This is especially true for the leopard Panthera pardus, which occurs extensively in agricultural landscapes and remnant forest tracts embedded within peri-urban areas such as Kathmandu district in Nepal. We carried out interviews in 321 households in this district to determine the extent of leopard habitat use and predation on domestic animals (dogs and goats) during October 2015–April 2016. We used multi-state occupancy models, and estimated probabilities of leopard habitat use (Ψ1) and predation on domestic animals (Ψ2) as a function of covariates, while accounting for imperfect detection. Our findings indicate that the rapidly urbanizing outskirts of Kathmandu city are used extensively by leopards. The estimated probability of fine-scale habitat use in 2 km2 sample units was 0.96 ± SE 0.05 and the probability of predation on domestic animals was 0.76 ± SE 0.15. Leopard attacks occurred in areas with high vegetation cover and abundant goats. Addressing the problem of leopard attacks on domestic animals will require developing a comprehensive mitigation plan that includes educational activities to raise awareness, measures to address grievances of affected local communities, interventions to prevent attacks on livestock, compensation programmes, and rapid response teams to ensure human and animal welfare in conflict-prone areas. Land-use planning in these peri-urban landscapes needs to facilitate the safe sharing of space between people and leopards.

Three well-supported generalizations in conservation biology are that developing tropical countries will experience the greatest biodiversity declines in the near future, they are some of the least studied areas in the world, and in these regions especially, protection requires local community support. We assess these generalizations in an evaluation of protected areas in India. The 5% of India officially protected covers most ecoregions and protected areas have been an important reason why India has suffered no documented species extinctions in the past 70 years. India has strong legislation favouring conservation, government investment focused on 50 Tiger Reserves, and government compensation schemes that facilitate local support, all of which brighten future prospects. However, many protected areas are too small to maintain a full complement of species, making connectivity and species use of buffer zones a crucial issue. Conservation success and challenges vary across regions according to their development status. In less developed areas, notably the biodiverse northeast Himalaya, protected areas maintaining the highest biodiversity result from locally-focused efforts by dedicated individuals. Across India, we demonstrate considerable opportunities to increase local income through ecotourism. Our evaluation confirms a lack of data, increasing threats, and the importance of local support. Research on biodiversity in buffer zones, development of long-term monitoring schemes, and assessment of cash and conservation benefits from tourism are in particular need. For policy makers, two main goals should be the development of monitoring plans for ‘eco-sensitive zones’ around protected areas, and a strong emphasis on preserving established protected areas.

The distribution of mammals is determined by a suite of endogenous and exogenous factors. In territorial, polygynous species like tigers (Panthera tigris), males often center their space-use around female territories, repelling competitors from these areas. Competition among males for females leads to increased mortality of both sexes and infanticide of unrelated cubs, which can lead to population declines. We hypothesized that increased territorial overlap among adult male tigers and elevated levels of inter and intra-sex competition would be manifest in populations with male-biased adult sex ratios (ASR). We also assessed whether inter-sex variation in adult survival or degree of habitat connectivity resulted in skewed ASR. We evaluated these hypotheses using camera trap data from three tiger populations occupying habitat patches with varying levels of connectivity and ASRs. Data were analyzed using multi-state occupancy models, where states were defined as habitat use by one or more male tigers in sites with and without female use. As predicted, in populations with male-biased or even ASR we found evidence for increased spatial overlap between male tigers, particularly pronounced in areas adjacent to female territories. Given parity in adult survival, habitat fragmentation likely caused male-biased ASR. Our results suggest that the persistence of small tiger populations in habitat patches with male-biased ASR may be significantly compromised by behavior-mediated endogenous demographic processes that are often overlooked. In habitat fragments with pronounced male biased ASR, population recovery of territorial carnivores may require timely supplementation of individuals to compensate for population losses from intraspecific competition.

Reports claim a dramatic 22% increase in wild-tiger Panthera tigris abundance within five years (3200 to 3890 individuals; WWF 2016). Such significant population increases could potentially change the status of tigers from endangered to vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and substantially contribute to the global target of doubling wild-tiger numbers by 2022 (GTRP 2010). While this purported increase has been attributed to improved conservation practices in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Russia, the claimed increase is questionable given unreported methodology (Russia), lack of comparable baselines (Bhutan and Russia), and failure to adjust population estimates to account for expanded survey effort and methodological changes (Nepal and India). The latter source of bias requires explanation as it accounts for a large portion of the assumed population increase. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Tiger (Panthera tigris) conservation efforts in Asia are focused on protected areas embedded in human-dominated landscapes. A system of protected areas is an effective conservation strategy for many endangered species if the network is large enough to support stable metapopulations. The long-term conservation of tigers requires that the species be able to meet some of its life-history needs beyond the boundaries of small protected areas and within the working landscape, including multiple-use forests with logging and high human use. However, understanding of factors that promote or limit the occurrence of tigers in working landscapes is incomplete. We assessed the relative influence of protection status, prey occurrence, extent of grasslands, intensity of human use, and patch connectivity on tiger occurrence in the 5400 km(2) Central Terai Landscape of India, adjacent to Nepal. Two observer teams independently surveyed 1009 km of forest trails and water courses distributed across 60 166-km(2) cells. In each cell, the teams recorded detection of tiger signs along evenly spaced trail segments. We used occupancy models that permitted multiscale analysis of spatially correlated data to estimate cell-scale occupancy and segment-scale habitat use by tigers as a function of management and environmental covariates. Prey availability and habitat quality, rather than protected-area designation, influenced tiger occupancy. Tiger occupancy was low in some protected areas in India that were connected to extensive areas of tiger habitat in Nepal, which brings into question the efficacy of current protection and management strategies in both India and Nepal. At a finer spatial scale, tiger habitat use was high in trail segments associated with abundant prey and large grasslands, but it declined as human and livestock use increased. We speculate that riparian grasslands may provide tigers with critical refugia from human activity in the daytime and thereby promote tiger occurrence in some multiple-use forests. Restrictions on human-use in high-quality tiger habitat in multiple-use forests may complement existing protected areas and collectively promote the persistence of tiger populations in working landscapes.

With less than 3200 wild tigers in 2010, the heads of 13 tiger-range countries committed to doubling the global population of wild tigers by 2022. This goal represents the highest level of ambition and commitment required to turn the tide for tigers in the wild. Yet, ensuring efficient and targeted implementation of conservation actions alongside systematic monitoring of progress towards this goal requires that we set site-specific recovery targets and timelines that are ecologically realistic. In this study, we assess the recovery potential of 18 sites identified under WWF's Tigers Alive Initiative. We delineated recovery systems comprising a source, recovery site, and support region, which need to be managed synergistically to meet these targets. By using the best available data on tiger and prey numbers, and adapting existing species recovery frameworks, we show that these sites, which currently support 165 (118-277) tigers, have the potential to harbour 585 (454-739) individuals. This would constitute a 15% increase in the global population and represent over a three-fold increase within these specific sites, on an average. However, it may not be realistic to achieve this target by 2022, since tiger recovery in 15 of these 18 sites is contingent on the initial recovery of prey populations, which is a slow process. We conclude that while sustained conservation efforts can yield significant recoveries, it is critical that we commit our resources to achieving the biologically realistic targets for these sites even if the timelines are extended.

We conducted surveys in the Trans-Himalayan Tso Lhamo plateau in Sikkim, India, to ascertain the status and distribution of some of India’s last surviving populations of wild ungulates (numbers in brackets are estimates for Sikkim): Tibetan argali Ovis ammon hodgsoni (c. 177 individuals), Tibetan gazelle Procapra picticaudata (c. 77), and kiang Equus kiang polyodon (c. 18). Topography appears to have an important influence on ungulate distribution, and populations of these species are aggregated in a small region along the northern boundary of the plateau. Persistence of the wild ungulates in this area can be attributed to the non-hunting tradition of local residents and to the seasonal absence of livestock (yak Bos grunniens and domestic sheep Ovis aries) and grazing. Nonetheless, wild ungulates remain vulnerable because of their small populations and anthropogenic pressure on their habitats. We recommend that conservation be prioritized in important wildlife habitats through partnerships with local communities.

Carter et al. (1) argued that coexistence is practical at fine spatial scales based on temporal segregation between tigers and people in and around Chitwan National Park, Nepal. The authors presented their coexistence model as an alternative to the widely held principle that long-term tiger conservation requires extensive areas where human-use is excluded. We believe that this study makes a fundamental logic error by conflating “co-occurrence” with “coexistence.” Their data demonstrate spatial co-occurrence conditioned on temporal separation, an unsurprising finding. Coexistence, the relevant interspecific dynamic process, has not been demonstrated and requires long-term data they did not collect.