Density and carrying capacity in the forgotten tigerland: Tigers in the understudied Nepalese Churia.
Density and carrying capacity in the forgotten tigerland: Tigers in the understudied Nepalese Churia.
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被遗忘的虎地的密度和承载能力：未被充分研究的尼泊尔楚里亚地区的老虎。
DOI：
10.1111/1749-4877.12240
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发表时间：
2017
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
M. Kelly
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
K. Thapa;M. Kelly
虽然在尼泊尔的低地地区有许多野生动物生态学研究，但没有对丘陵丘里亚栖息地进行深入研究，尽管它包括整个特莱弧的7642平方公里的潜在野生动物栖息地。我们调查了老虎，豹子和猎物的密度在这个未充分研究的栖息地。我们的相机捕获调查覆盖了Churia和Chitwan国家公园（CNP）内的周边地区的536平方公里。在2010-2011年冬季的60天调查期间，我们使用了161个诱捕地点，并积累了2097个诱捕夜。此外，我们走了136公里，超过81个不同的线样带，使用距离抽样估计猎物密度。我们拍摄了31只老虎，28只豹子和25种其他哺乳动物。空间捕获-再捕获方法得出的老虎密度估计数较低，为每100平方公里2.3至2.9只老虎，而豹的密度估计数为每100平方公里3.3至5.1只豹。此外，与周边地区相比，丘里亚核心地区的豹子密度更高。每100 km 2森林有蹄类猎物（水鹿、赤兔、狗吠鹿和野猪）为62.7头，占总猎物数的47%。根据猎物的可用性，在CNP Churia栖息地可能支持5.86老虎每100平方公里，但我们的密度估计较低，也许表明老虎种群低于承载能力。我们的研究结果表明，Churia栖息地不应该被忽视的保护措施，而是管理工作的重点应该是减少人为干扰，以支持更高的捕食者数量。
While there are numerous wildlife ecology studies in lowland areas of Nepal, there are no in-depth studies of the hilly Churia habitat even though it comprises 7642 km2 of potential wildlife habitat across the Terai Arc. We investigated tiger, leopard and prey densities across this understudied habitat. Our camera trapping survey covered 536 km2 of Churia and surrounding areas within Chitwan National Park (CNP). We used 161 trapping locations and accumulated 2097 trap-nights in a 60-day survey period during the winter season of 2010-2011. In addition, we walked 136 km over 81 different line transects using distance sampling to estimate prey density. We photographed 31 individual tigers, 28 individual leopards and 25 other mammalian species. Spatial capture-recapture methods resulted in lower density estimates for tigers, ranging from 2.3 to 2.9 tigers per 100 km2 , than for leopards, which ranged from 3.3 to 5.1 leopards per 100 km2 . In addition, leopard densities were higher in the core of the Churia compared to surrounding areas. We estimated 62.7 prey animals per 100 km2 with forest ungulate prey (sambar, chital, barking deer and wild pig), accounting for 47% of the total. Based on prey availability, Churia habitat within CNP could potentially support 5.86 tigers per 100 km2 but our density estimates were lower, perhaps indicating that the tiger population is below carrying capacity. Our results demonstrate that Churia habitat should not be ignored in conservation initiatives, but rather management efforts should focus on reducing human disturbance to support higher predator numbers.