Not a cakewalk: Insights into movement of large carnivores in human
dominated landscapes in India
Abstract
1.Large carnivore conservation is complex and remains a massive
challenge across the world. Owing to their wide-ranging habits, large
carnivores encounter various anthropogenic pressures which may
potentially lead to conflict. Animal movement is linked with individual
fitness as it is important for various biological processes. Therefore,
studying how large carnivores adapt their movement to dynamic landscape
conditions is vital for management and conservation policy. 2.We first
quantified the movement parameters of four large carnivores in and
outside protected-areas in India (tiger, leopard, dhole and wolf). We
then tested the effects of human pressures like human density, road
density and land use types on the movement of the species. Finally, we
examined the configuration of core areas as a strategy to exploit
human-dominated landscape. 3.Our findings suggest that the mean hourly
displacement of 4 large carnivores differed across habitats. Mean
displacement of large carnivores varied from 77.58m/h for leopards to
665.3m/h for wolves. Tigers outside PAs exhibited higher displacement as
compared to tigers inside PAs. Displacement during day and night were
significantly different for tigers inside and outside PAs (P=0.03), and
wolf whereas no difference was found for leopard and dholes. The
movement and ranging patterns of species outside PAs were influenced by
anthropogenic factors such as human population, road network density,
and landuse. All carnivores showed multiple areas of intensive use or
cores in their home ranges. The range of the core area sizes was greater
for species outside PAs (tiger and wolf) in human-altered landscapes.
4.Movement ecology of large carnivores has not been explored using such
an exhaustive dataset in India. Our study attempts to extend theoretical
concepts to applied management problems. This study can be a starting
point for rigorous studies on interlinking animal movement and landscape
management for large carnivore conservation and policy-making in the
Anthropocene.