Most of the tiger populations in well-established tiger reserves have reached carrying capacity posing new challenges of dealing with dispersing big cats which are moving more than 200 kilometres from their place of birth.
These and other important findings were discussed at the 28th annual research seminar of the Wildlife Institute of India here on Thursday.
Speaking on studies on tiger ecology, WII scientist Qamar Qureshi said that long term demographic monitoring is going on in Pench, Kanha, Ranthambhore and Corbett landscape.
However, with most of the tiger population in well established tiger reserves reaching carrying capacity causing some tigers to disperse more than 200 kms from their place of birth, there is need to maintain the connectivity between tiger populations by trying innovative schemes involving people and development agencies. There is also need for a mechanism to respond swiftly to conflict situations and a plan for dealing with overabundance in some landscapes, he added.
Elaborating on the Gir experience in long term ecological research, WII scientist Dr YV Jhala said that comparing WII's research in Gir (Gujarat) with that on lions in Serengeti (Tanzania), the former has poor resource allocation, shorter operational timeframe and subsequently a poor track record of scientific publications.
long term research in India needs to be encouraged with committed funding in increments of five years to scientists willing to dedicate a lifetime to particular systems or species, he said.
Speaking on the findings of mammalian research in the Himalayas, WII scientist Dr S Sathyakumar said that the snow leopards in Sikkim and Jammu and Kashmir were genetically closer to each other, while the snow leopards of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand were not genetically that close to each other probably because the big cats could travel to and fro between Sikkim and Jammu and Kashmir, but not in the case of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Presenting findings of studies on vegetation ecology, WII scientist Dr GS Rawat said that though there has been marginal increase in the temperature in the last 100 years, some publications have stated that the timber line has gone higher in the mountainous regions even though there has been no such major change in the timberline. He stressed on the need for detailed instead of small projects. Uttarakhand chief conservator of forests (Wildlife) Dhananjai Mohan spoke on avifaunal studies in the Himalayas, institute scientist Dr VP Uniyal spoke on the accomplishments of invertebrate studies (insects and spiders), Dr K Sankar spoke on reintroduction of large mammals in India, Dr SP Goyal spoke on forensics in wildlife conservation and veterinary intervention. Earlier, the founder director of WII, HS Panwar and director Dr VB Mathur also addressed the gathering.