Journal
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
Volume 178, Issue -, Pages 50-64Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2014.07.013
Keywords
Panthera tigris altaica; Siberian tiger; Species distribution modeling; Conservation planning; Carnivore; Predator-prey; Sika deer; Biotic interactions
Funding
- Wildlife Conservation Society
- Liz Claiborne-Art Ortenburg Foundation
- National Fish and Wildlife Service Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Fund
- 21st Century Tiger
- Columbus Zoo
- Panthera
- U.S. Forest Service International Programs
- Save the Tiger Fund
- Banovich Wildscapes
- Cats for Canada
- Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund
- Wildlife Conservation Network
- University of Montana
- University of Virginia from NASA
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Wild tiger numbers continue to decline despite decades of conservation action. Identification, conservation and restoration of tiger habitat will be a key component of recovering tiger numbers across Asia. To identify suitable habitat for tigers in the Russian Far East, we adopted a niche-based tiger habitat modeling approach, including biotic interactions with ungulate prey species, human activities and environmental variables to identify mechanisms driving selection and distribution of tiger habitat. We conducted >28,000 km of winter snow tracking surveys in 2004/2005 over 266,000 km(2) of potential tiger habitat in 970 sampling units (similar to 171 km(2)) to record the presence of tracks of tigers and their ungulate prey. We adopted a used-unused design to estimate Resource Selection Probability Functions (RSPF) for tigers, red deer, roe deer, sika deer, wild boar, musk deer and moose. Tiger habitat was best predicted by a niche-based RSPF model based on biotic interactions with red deer, sika deer and wild boar, as well as avoidance of areas of high human activity and road density. We identified 155,000 km(2) of occupied tiger habitat in the RFE in 17 main habitat patches. Degradation of tiger habitat was most extreme in the southern areas of the Russian Far East, where at least 42% of potential historic tiger habitat has been destroyed. To improve and restore tiger habitat, aggressive conservation efforts to reduce human impacts and increase ungulate densities, tiger reproduction and adult survival will be needed across all tiger habitat identified by our tiger habitat model. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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