LeopardPanthera pardus fuscaDensity in the Seasonally Dry, Subtropical Forest in the Bhabhar of Terai Arc, Nepal

Kanchan Thapa,Naresh Subedi,Marcella J Kelly,Maheshwar Dhakal,Narendra Man Babu Pradhan,Rinjan Shrestha,Pradeep Khanal,Jhamak Karki,Gokarna Jung Thapa

doi:10.1155/2014/286949

Abstract

We estimated leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) abundance and density in the Bhabhar physiographic region in Parsa Wildlife Reserve, Nepal. The camera trap grid, covering sampling area of 289 km2with 88 locations, accumulated 1,342 trap nights in 64 days in the winter season of 2008-2009 and photographed 19 individual leopards. Using models incorporating heterogeneity, we estimated 28 (±SE 6.07) and 29.58 (±SE 10.44) leopards in Programs CAPTURE and MARK. Density estimates via 1/2 MMDM methods were 5.61 (±SE 1.30) and 5.93 (±SE 2.15) leopards per 100 km2using abundance estimates from CAPTURE and MARK, respectively. Spatially explicit capture recapture (SECR) models resulted in lower density estimates, 3.78 (±SE 0.85) and 3.48 (±SE 0.83) leopards per 100 km2, in likelihood based program DENSITY and Bayesian based program SPACECAP, respectively. The 1/2 MMDM methods have been known to provide much higher density estimates than SECR modelling techniques. However, our SECR models resulted in high leopard density comparable to areas considered better habitat in Nepal indicating a potentially dense population compared to other sites. We provide the first density estimates for leopards in the Bhabhar and a baseline for long term population monitoring of leopards in Parsa Wildlife Reserve and across the Terai Arc.

Highlights

The leopard (Panthera pardus fusca Meyer, 1794) is one of the most widely distributed felids across the forested landscapes of the Indian subcontinent [1, 2]
The density estimates from traditional methods of dividing abundance by the effective trap area (ETA) were of 5.61 (±SE 1.30) and 5.93 (±SE 2.15) leopards per 100 km2, from programs CAPTURE and MARK, respectively
Our approach of conducting a sign survey [2] prior to the camera trap survey aided in fine tuning the survey protocol to maximize detection probability in Parsa Wildlife Reserve (PWR)

Summary

Introduction

The leopard (Panthera pardus fusca Meyer, 1794) is one of the most widely distributed felids across the forested landscapes of the Indian subcontinent [1, 2]. We use traditional techniques of estimating the density using the ad hoc method of adding a buffer area around the polygon formed by connecting outer camera trap locations to account for edge effects (animals that do not occur entirely within trapping grid but have home range overlapping the edge of the grid) These buffering methods include using an estimate of home range radius derived from GPS or radio telemetry [35, 36] or the common technique of using half of the mean maximum distance moved (1/2 MMDM) by animals within the trap array as a surrogate for home range radius [18, 37, 38]. We present the result from both traditional and SECR approaches allowing us to compare our leopard density estimates with other studies in South Asia (Nepal, India, and Bhutan)

Materials and Methods

Results

Discussion