Protection of forest corridors connecting big cat

Protection of forest corridors connecting big cat habitats urged
CLEMSON,[url=http://www.chronotime.net/]louboutin men[/url], S.C., Aug. 29 () -- Protecting corridors tigers and leopards use to travel between habitat areas is the best conservation strategy for long-term survival, U.S. scientists say.Conservation geneticists at Clemson University, working with colleagues at the Smithsonian Institution,[url=http://www.yubikeys.net/]true religion outlet[/url], said forest corridors play an essential role in maintaining the flow of genes between tiger and leopard populations in central India and are paramount for sustaining the genetic variation required for their long-term persistence.The researchers analyzed the genes of the estimated 273 tigers and 217 leopards living in four distinct populations in the 17,375-square-mile Satpura-Maikal region of central India and found that while the flow of genes between the four tiger and leopard populations has decreased over time, clusters linked by contiguous forest corridors have managed to maintain a high rate of gene flow."The viability of the forest corridors connecting tiger habitats has a direct affect on a tigers' chance of finding an unrelated mate and on the ability of tiger populations to maintain genetic diversity," Clemson scientist Trishna Dutta said. "As we know, genetic diversity allows species to survive disease and habitat stress and encourages long-term survival."In cases where habitats become islands and a genetic bottleneck occurs, wildlife biologists are sometimes forced to move animals from one population to another."Moving animals is inefficient, costly and stressful for the animals. There is also no guarantee that the animals will mate,[url=http://www.yubikeys.net/]true religion sale[/url]," Clemson researcher Sandeep Sharma said."Since we now know that the existing corridors play such a vital role in long-term survival, the best way to enable their success is to take a landscape-scale approach to conservation and protect the corridors from further damage."

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