‘Tigers of Western Ghats have lower genetic variation’: NCBS study

BENGALURU: The tiger gene pool in central India has a larger genetic variation when compared to that of Western Ghats and South India.

This was revealed in a recent study by a team of 11 researchers, including those from the National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS). The study – Genomic Analysis of Isolated Tiger Populations, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America – stated that the southern large-connected population is disconnected from other tiger population genetic clusters in India, while the central, large -connected population was connected by gene flow to other tiger clusters.

Uma Ramakrishnan, co-author of the paper and researcher from NCBS, told The New Indian Express that samples of over 100 wild individuals have been collected, including the ones that have been relocated and captured in Karnataka.

“The forest department is now getting people together, including scientists and forensic experts, to work on preparing a scientific database on gene pool. It has been found that cases of inbreeding are on the rise.”

In the study, researchers noted that increased agriculture, bounty hunting, poaching, habitat loss and fragmentation have led to local extinctions of tiger populations.

The small-isolated population that was studied had fewer than 100 individuals, but was connected to the central large-connected population and potentially to the now-extinct tiger population in Afghanistan. They quantified the inbreeding by identifying long stretches of the genome that are homozygous and identical by descent.

“The large southern population has more inbred individuals than the large central population, potentially due to its geo-graphical placement, historic size and connectivity,” noted the study. The researchers also found that pairs of individuals from the small– isolated population also shared large tracts of genome that were inbred.

Data of researchers prepared from India is also being compared and studied with that of Southeast Asia by researchers from other countries, including China.

To control man-animal conflict, the Karnataka forest department, is working on using scientific tools. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, wildlife, Subhash Malkhade, said camera traps are placed in conflict areas and using scientific data, plans are being drawn on how tigers can be relocated.