Tiger and Prey Occupancy in Nam Et – Phou Louey Tiger Conservation Landscape
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ABUNDANCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF TIGER AND PREY IN MONTANE TROPICAL FOREST IN NORTHERN LAO PEOPLE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC By CHANTHAVY VONGKHAMHENG A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2011 1 © 2011 Chanthavy Vongkhamheng 2 To those dedicated to tiger conservation 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to express my sincere gratitude and thanks to my academic advisor, Dr. Melvin Sunquist, for his invaluable advice, guidance and encouragement throughout the course of my PhD program. I would also like to thank all my committee members, Dr. Madan Oli, Dr. George Tanner, Dr. Mike Moulton, and my special committee member, Dr. Karl Didier, for their invaluable advice and comments on my dissertation. Special thanks to my field supervisor, Dr. Arlyne Johnson, who spent a huge amount of her time and effort on ensuring the completion of my field research as well as providing comments and editorial advice on my dissertation. Her skills and encouragement have enriched my professional inspiration in my career and my future. Also, I wish to acknowledge Dr. James Nichols and James Hines, the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, for their advice on data analysis, and all people in the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), especially Joshua Ginsberg, John Robinson, Mike Hedemark, Troy Hansel, Ullas Karanth and others for having encouraged me to pursue my dreams and complete my PhD study. I am highly grateful to Dr. Steve Humphrey, Director of School of Natural Resource, and his staff, who sorted out the logistics and the financial support through my PhD study program at the University of Florida. My study was partially supported by a WCS graduate scholarship, and my field research was financially supported by Panthera, the National Geographic Society, the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation of Hong Kong, the International Foundation for Science, and a Panthera Kaplan Graduate Award. Finally, I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my family, my parents, and my friends who have encouraged me at all times. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 7 LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... 8 ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 10 Status of Tigers and Their Conservation ................................................................. 10 Tiger Population Status .................................................................................... 10 Tiger and Prey Studies in Other Tiger Range Countries .................................. 10 Abundance and Distribution of Tiger in Lao People Democratic Republic........ 13 Research Rationales............................................................................................... 14 Objectives of the Studies ........................................................................................ 15 Study Hypotheses ................................................................................................... 15 2 STUDY AREA ......................................................................................................... 16 3 ASSESSMENT OF UNGULATE PREY ABUNDANCE IN THE NAM ET-PHOU LOUEY NPA CORE ZONE ..................................................................................... 24 Background ............................................................................................................. 24 Methodology ........................................................................................................... 25 Basic Sampling Technique ............................................................................... 25 Sampling Design .............................................................................................. 26 Field Survey Protocol ....................................................................................... 28 Data Analysis ................................................................................................... 29 Results .................................................................................................................... 31 Occupancy Rates of Tiger Prey ........................................................................ 31 Abundance Index of Tiger Prey Population ...................................................... 31 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 32 4 TIGER MINIMUM NUMBER AND TIGER DENSITY ESTIMATION IN NAM ET – PHOU LOEUY CORE ZONE .................................................................................. 42 Background ............................................................................................................. 42 Methodology ........................................................................................................... 45 Camera Trapping ............................................................................................. 45 Scat DNA Analysis ........................................................................................... 46 5 Expected Tiger Numbers Based On the Ad hoc Prey:Tiger Ratio .................... 47 Results .................................................................................................................... 48 Tiger Population Estimation from Camera Trapping ......................................... 48 Fecal DNA-based Tiger Minimum Estimation ................................................... 49 Estimation of Expected Tiger Numbers ............................................................ 49 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 49 5 TIGER AND PREY OCCUPANCY IN NAM ET – PHOU LOUEY TIGER CONSERVATION LANDSCAPE ............................................................................ 59 Background ............................................................................................................. 59 Methodology ........................................................................................................... 61 Study Design .................................................................................................... 61 Questionnaire Surveys ..................................................................................... 63 Estimation and Modeling of Occupancy and Detection Probabilities ................ 65 Covariates ........................................................................................................ 66 Prior Prediction ................................................................................................. 67 Data Analysis ................................................................................................... 68 Results .................................................................................................................... 68 Estimated Tiger Occupancy and Distribution .................................................... 68 Estimated Area Occupied by Tiger Prey Species ............................................. 69 Threats to Tigers and Their Prey ...................................................................... 70 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 70 Tiger Occupancy and Distribution .................................................................... 70 Prey Occupancy and Distribution ..................................................................... 74 APPENDIX A DATA FORM FOR SMALL CELL OCCUPANCY SURVEY FOR TIGER PREY IN THE NAM ET-PHOU LOUEY CORE ZONE ....................................................... 87 B QUESTIONNAIRE DATA FORM FOR LANDSCAPE OCCUPANCY SURVEYS IN NAM ET-POU LOUEY TIGER CONSERVATION LANDSCAPE ....................... 88 C A REFERENCE MAP OF EACH 300 KM2 gRID CELL FOR LANDSCAPE OCCUPANCY SURVEYS IN NAM ET-POU LOUEY TIGER CONSERVATION LANDSCAPE .......................................................................................................... 91 D A RANKING OF MODELS USING AKAIKE‟S INFORMATION CRITERION (AIC) WITH ΔAIC< 2 ............................................................................................... 92 E BETA COEFFICIENTS FOR THE TOP MODELS FOR TIGER AND PREY SPECIES ................................................................................................................ 93 LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................................................... 94 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................... 103 6 LIST OF TABLES Table page 2-1 Summary of total biodiversity conservation land areas in the Lao PDR ............. 20 2-2 List of carnivores and prey species recorded in Nam Et-Phou Louey NPA ........ 21 3-1 E.g. Hypothetical matrix for prey detection (1), and non-detection (0) for 800 sub-grid cells with a total of 6 replicates. ...........................................................