PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Habitat research methods give a new peek at tiger life with conservation

2013-10-18
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Sue Nichols
nichols@msu.edu
517-432-0206
Michigan State University
Habitat research methods give a new peek at tiger life with conservation

From a tiger's point of view, yesterday's thoughtful conservation plans might be today's reason to branch out. An international team of researchers has found a useful way to better understand the tiger's take on policy.

Twelve years ago, a team led by Jianguo "Jack" Liu at Michigan State University (MSU) showed that China needed to revisit how it was protecting its pandas. Now research on tiger habitat in Nepal, published this week's Ecosphere journal of the Ecological Society of America, again shows that conservation demands not only good policy, but monitoring even years down the road.

"Understanding long-term outcomes of conservation programs is crucial and requires innovative methods," Liu said. "Now we're learning that Nepal's outstanding efforts to protect tigers are best supported with close monitoring because conservation situations are so dynamic. In both cases, the key is to understand how the people who live near the valued wildlife are faring as well."

Neil Carter, who recently received a doctoral degree from MSU's Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, follows up on trailblazing research of Liu, his adviser.

Carter has spent years studying endangered tigers in Chitwan National Park in Nepal's Himalayan lowlands. The park, established in 1973 to protect both the tigers and the area's biodiversity, was not without cost to the people who live around the area. Those residents depend on the same forests for wood for fuel and building and grasses to thatch roofs and feed their livestock, and the policies that govern it are top-down, with little input from residents.

In 1996, Nepal added a buffer zone next to the park to both improve the area's ecosystem and help improve the livelihoods of the people who live there. In the buffer zone, people are allowed both more access to the forest's resources and more say in its management.

In Ecosphere, Carter reports a unique approach to monitoring the condition of the tiger's habitat by combining satellite images and camera trap data on where the tigers were hanging out.

Tigers like grasslands, which support high prey numbers and likely give tigers cover to hunt their prey. Because tigers require large areas, they prefer their cover not be too broken up.

Turns out that growing human populations around Nepal are growing, and with that increasing unauthorized human use of local natural resources, is reducing the quality of tiger habitat inside Chitwan National Park. The tigers are finding friendly neighborhoods outside the park – which is important input, both for the buffer's policies and the park's policies.

"Many animals have their ranges extending outside of protected areas," Carter said. "They don't know and they don't care where the border signs are. So areas outside protected areas are important as well.

"In Nepal, we're finding that there is this middle ground where you can have people using the land and still not only keep land from degrading, but can improve habitat quality. Policies in Chitwan's buffer zone, such as prohibiting livestock from freely grazing in the forests and community-based forest management, improved habitat quality."

Carter and his colleagues placed infrared motion-activated cameras at 76 locations spanning areas inside the park and the buffer zone. While GPS collars can tell a lot about an individual animal's behavior, camera traps give a fuller picture of traffic in an area. When combined with information about the condition of forests and grasslands, it allowed Carter to see where tigers were hanging out, and insight into why.

It turns out that over a 20-year span, Chitwan National Park still is a desirable place for tigers. But it is the buffer's tiger habitat that has gradually improved while the park's habitat has gradually degraded. That's information conservation managers can use to fine tune policy as they work to balance their efforts to protect biodiversity with ways to also allow the people that depend on the forest for survival to thrive.

It echoes a trail blazed by Liu in 2001. Then he published a paper in Science magazine showing that panda habitat was being destroyed quicker inside the world's most high-profile protected nature reserve than in adjacent areas of China that are not protected, enabling the Chinese to realign their policies. The paper also was the beginning of a powerful research focus that pulls from several disciplines to fully understand the outcomes of conservation policies from the perspective of coupled human and natural systems.

The methods Carter and his colleagues have created are ones that could be powerful tools for conservation managers across the globe.

"This is a pretty easy way to take advantage of tools and methods being used all over the world – camera traps and satellite images-- to measure how habitat has changed and to visualize how that has changed across space and time," Carter said. "It's a simple way to assess how different policies and practices affect habitat and figure out which ones are working and which ones aren't to promote effective policy now and in the future."

Carter is now a research associate at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center in Annapolis, Md, and Princeton University in New Jersey. In addition to Carter and Liu, who is CSIS director, "Assessing spatiotemporal changes in tiger habitat across different land management regimes" also was written by Bhim Gurung of the Nepal Tiger Trust in Chitwan; Andrés Viña, an assistant professor in CSIS; Henry Campa, professor of wildlife ecology; and Jhamak Karki of Nepal's Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation.



INFORMATION:



The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Fund, NASA's Earth and Space Science program and MSU AgBioResearch.



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Learning dialects shapes brain areas that process spoken language

2013-10-18
Learning dialects shapes brain areas that process spoken language Using advanced imaging to visualize brain areas used for understanding language in native Japanese speakers, a new study from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute finds that the pitch-accent in words pronounced in standard Japanese activates ...

Scientists identify key genes for increasing oil content in plant leaves

2013-10-18
Scientists identify key genes for increasing oil content in plant leaves Accumulating oil in leaves could significantly increase energy content of biofuels and plant-based foods UPTON, NY -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven ...

Tiny sea creatures are heading for extinction, and could take local fisheries with them

2013-10-18
Tiny sea creatures are heading for extinction, and could take local fisheries with them A species of one of the world's tiniest creatures, ocean plankton, is heading for extinction as it struggles to adapt to changes in sea temperature. And it may take ...

Oral nutritional supplements may help hospitals achieve readmission reduction policies

2013-10-18
Oral nutritional supplements may help hospitals achieve readmission reduction policies As Affordable Care Act penalties on hospital readmissions increase, nutritional intervention may help decrease 30-day readmission rates among Medicare patients In the U.S., one ...

To swallow or to spit?

2013-10-18
To swallow or to spit? New medicines for llamas and alpacas South American camelids, especially llamas and alpacas, are very susceptible to infections caused by endoparasites. The so-called small liver fluke (Dicrocoelium ...

Mutations in cancer often affect the X chromosome

2013-10-18
Mutations in cancer often affect the X chromosome Every case of cancer originates from changes in a person's genetic material (mutations). These usually occur as "somatic mutations" in individual cells during an ...

Evolution is not a one-way road towards complexity

2013-10-18
Evolution is not a one-way road towards complexity Development of cryptic worms provides new insights into molluscan evolution This news release is available in German. There are still a lot of unanswered questions about mollusks, e.g. snails, ...

Tiny 'Lego brick'-style studs make solar panels a quarter more efficient

2013-10-18
Tiny 'Lego brick'-style studs make solar panels a quarter more efficient Rows of aluminum studs help solar panels extract more energy from sunlight than those with flat surfaces. Most solar cells used in homes and industry are made using thick layers of ...

Lots of oxygen does not necessarily lead to the evolution of advanced life

2013-10-18
Lots of oxygen does not necessarily lead to the evolution of advanced life Any textbook will tell you that oxygen is essential for advanced life to evolve. For example, ancient dinosaurs and modern large-brained mammals need a lot of oxygen to keep their large and sophisticated ...

Tanning gene linked to increased risk of testicular cancer, according to NIH scientists

2013-10-18
Tanning gene linked to increased risk of testicular cancer, according to NIH scientists A gene important in skin tanning has been linked to higher risk for testicular cancer in white men, according to a study led by scientists ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Scientists target ‘molecular machine’ in the war against antimicrobial resistance

Extending classical CNOP method for deep-learning atmospheric and oceanic forecasting

Aston University research: Parents should encourage structure and independence around food to support children’s healthy eating

Thunderstorms are a major driver of tree death in tropical forests

Danforth Plant Science Center adds two new faculty members

Robotic eyes mimic human vision for superfast response to extreme lighting

Racial inequities and access to COVID-19 treatment

Residential segregation and lung cancer risk in African American adults

Scientists wipe out aggressive brain cancer tumors by targeting cellular ‘motors’

Capturability distinction analysis of continuous and pulsed guidance laws

CHEST expands Bridging Specialties Initiative to include NTM disease and bronchiectasis on World Bronchiectasis Day

Exposure to air pollution may cause heart damage

SwRI, UTSA selected by NASA to test electrolyzer technology aboard parabolic flight

Prebiotics might be a factor in preventing or treating issues caused by low brain GABA

Youngest in class at higher risk of mental health problems

American Heart Association announces new volunteer leaders for 2025-26

Gut microbiota analysis can help catch gestational diabetes

FAU’s Paulina DeVito awarded prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Champions for change – Paid time off initiative just made clinical trials participation easier

Fentanyl detection through packaging

Prof. Eran Meshorer elected to EMBO for pioneering work in epigenetics

New 3D glacier visualizations provide insights into a hotter Earth

Creativity across disciplines

Consequences of low Antarctic sea ice

Hear here: How loudness and acoustic cues help us judge where a speaker is facing

A unique method of rare-earth recycling can strengthen the raw material independence of Europe and America

Epilepsy self-management program shows promise to control seizures, improve mood and quality of life

Fat may play an important role in brain metabolism

New study finds no lasting impact of pandemic pet ownership on human well-being

New insights on genetic damage of some chemotherapies could guide future treatments with less harmful side effects

[Press-News.org] Habitat research methods give a new peek at tiger life with conservation