Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/22628
Title: The ecological benefit of tigers (Panthera tigris) to farmers in reducing crop and livestock losses in the eastern Himalayas: Implications for conservation of large apex predators
Contributor(s): Thinley, Phuntso (author); Rajaratnam, Rajanathan  (author)orcid ; Lassoie, James (author); Morreale, Stephen (author); Curtis, Paul (author); Vernes, Karl A  (author)orcid ; Leki, Leki (author); Phuntsho, Sonam (author); Dorji, Tshering (author); Dorji, Pema (author)
Publication Date: 2018
DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2018.01.015
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/22628
Abstract: Ecologists have primarily focused their attention on how predator loss influences ecosystem structure and function in intact ecosystems, but rarely tested these ecological concepts in agricultural landscapes. We conducted a study in western Bhutan on the inter-specific dynamics between tigers, leopards, and dholes, and their subsequent impact on livestock and crop losses faced by agro-pastoralists. We found that when a tiger was present in forests surrounding villages, leopards and dholes occupied areas closer to village croplands and preyed on a higher relative abundance of wild herbivore crop raiders, thereby significantly reducing crop (β = −2.25, p < .0001) and livestock losses (β = −2.39, p ≤.0001). In contrast, leopards and dholes occupied areas in deep forests farther from croplands when a tiger was absent in the village vicinity, leading to increased predation on a higher abundance of untended free-ranging livestock. We posit that justifications for large predator conservation based on their iconic status is not persuasive to rural farmers residing close to their habitat and suffering crop and livestock loss. There is a need to determine ecological services from apex predators to farmers which may dissuade them from retaliatory killings. We recommend conservation practitioners conserve large apex predators to maintain optimal inter-specific interactions in a large predator guild to benefit rural socio-economy.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: Biological Conservation, v.219, p. 119-125
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Place of Publication: Netherlands
ISSN: 1873-2917
0006-3207
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 050202 Conservation and Biodiversity
060202 Community Ecology (excl. Invasive Species Ecology)
040699 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience not elsewhere classified
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 410401 Conservation and biodiversity
310302 Community ecology (excl. invasive species ecology)
370999 Physical geography and environmental geoscience not elsewhere classified
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 960805 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity at Regional or Larger Scales
960804 Farmland, Arable Cropland and Permanent Cropland Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 180602 Control of pests, diseases and exotic species in terrestrial environments
180606 Terrestrial biodiversity
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article
School of Environmental and Rural Science
School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

Files in This Item:
2 files
File Description SizeFormat 
Show full item record

SCOPUSTM   
Citations

29
checked on Dec 30, 2023

Page view(s)

1,660
checked on Jan 7, 2024
Google Media

Google ScholarTM

Check

Altmetric


Items in Research UNE are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.