Evidence of tiger population structure and dispersal in the montane conservation landscape of Bhutan

Tashi Dhendup; Sandeep Sharma; Sally Painter; Andrew R. Whiteley; L. Scott Mills

doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2023.e02459

Evidence of tiger population structure and dispersal in the montane conservation landscape of Bhutan

Tashi Dhendup
, Sandeep Sharma
, Sally Painter
, Andrew R. Whiteley
, L. Scott Mills

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Bhutan is a part of the second-largest Tiger Conservation Landscape (TCL), The Northern Forest Complex-Namdapha-Royal Manas, and is home to a tiger population of global conservation priority. With its well-connected protected area network and a vast expanse of forested landscape, Bhutan has a unique potential to spatially connect tiger populations in the Terai TCL of India and Nepal on the western side to the north-eastern part of the Indian subcontinent. However, information on genetic structure and connectivity among tiger populations is lacking in the Eastern Himalayan region. Due to the large and contiguous forested landscape with a network of well-connected protected areas and strong environmental protection measures in Bhutan, tiger populations in Bhutan are expected to have high genetic variation and gene flow. We made the first-ever attempt at the genetic sampling of the tiger population in Bhutan, where we genotyped 24 tiger individuals using thirteen microsatellite loci. Genetic analyses revealed three genetic clusters and found high expected heterozygosity (mean H_E = 0.73) and moderate-to-high genetic differentiation (F_ST = 0.135) within this pool of sampled tigers. We also were able to assign poached tigers to our inferred genetic clusters. Two individual wild tigers showed distinct multilocus genotypes, similar to each other but highly divergent from all other sampled tigers, suggesting their origin from outside the sampled areas. Our study provides the first insights into the population genetic structure of tigers in this important region and suggests that gene flow is less than suggested by dispersal. A larger landscape-level genetic study with implications for the transboundary conservation of tigers in this highly biodiverse landscape is warranted.

Original language	English
Article number	e02459
Journal	Global Ecology and Conservation
Volume	43
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2023.e02459
State	Published - Jun 2023

Funding

The National Geographic Society funded this research via grant no WW-259-ER-17 . The Bhutan Foundation , the Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Forest Research and Training , and the Bhutan Tiger Center supported the project financially. This research was funded by the National Geographic Society grant WW-259ER-17 and the Bhutan Foundation. We want to thank the Department of Forests and Park Services for allowing sample collection in Royal Manas National Park and other areas of Bhutan, the Nature Conservation Division for sharing tissues samples from their taxidermy collection, and the Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Forest Research and Training for supporting the study. We would also like to thank the Conservation Genetics laboratory at the University of Montana for allowing us to use their lab, and the WWF Russel E Train Fellowship Education for Nature, Wildlife Conservation Network, and the University of Montana for financially supporting Tashi Dhendup during his master’s study in the United States. LSM acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation Division of Environmental Biology grant DEB-0841884.

Funders	Funder number
Bhutan foundation
DEB-0841884
World Wildlife Fund
National Geographic Society	WW-259ER-17

Keywords

Connectivity
Eastern Himalayas
Gene flow
Genetic variation

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10.1016/j.gecco.2023.e02459

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title = "Evidence of tiger population structure and dispersal in the montane conservation landscape of Bhutan",

abstract = "Bhutan is a part of the second-largest Tiger Conservation Landscape (TCL), The Northern Forest Complex-Namdapha-Royal Manas, and is home to a tiger population of global conservation priority. With its well-connected protected area network and a vast expanse of forested landscape, Bhutan has a unique potential to spatially connect tiger populations in the Terai TCL of India and Nepal on the western side to the north-eastern part of the Indian subcontinent. However, information on genetic structure and connectivity among tiger populations is lacking in the Eastern Himalayan region. Due to the large and contiguous forested landscape with a network of well-connected protected areas and strong environmental protection measures in Bhutan, tiger populations in Bhutan are expected to have high genetic variation and gene flow. We made the first-ever attempt at the genetic sampling of the tiger population in Bhutan, where we genotyped 24 tiger individuals using thirteen microsatellite loci. Genetic analyses revealed three genetic clusters and found high expected heterozygosity (mean HE = 0.73) and moderate-to-high genetic differentiation (FST = 0.135) within this pool of sampled tigers. We also were able to assign poached tigers to our inferred genetic clusters. Two individual wild tigers showed distinct multilocus genotypes, similar to each other but highly divergent from all other sampled tigers, suggesting their origin from outside the sampled areas. Our study provides the first insights into the population genetic structure of tigers in this important region and suggests that gene flow is less than suggested by dispersal. A larger landscape-level genetic study with implications for the transboundary conservation of tigers in this highly biodiverse landscape is warranted.",

keywords = "Connectivity, Eastern Himalayas, Gene flow, Genetic variation",

author = "Tashi Dhendup and Sandeep Sharma and Sally Painter and Whiteley, \{Andrew R.\} and Mills, \{L. Scott\}",

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ER -

Evidence of tiger population structure and dispersal in the montane conservation landscape of Bhutan

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