Spatio-temporal patterns of tigers in response to prey species and anthropogenic activities

Understanding factors influencing the spatio-temporal patterns of apex predators is prerequisite for their conservation. We studied space use and diel activity of tigers (Panthera tigris) in response to prey availability and anthropogenic activities with trail cameras in Nepal during December 2022-March 2023. We used hierarchical occupancy models to evaluate how prey availability (space use of prey species) and anthropogenic activities (number of humans and livestock) contributed to the tigers' space use, while accounting for landscape effects on their detection probability. We calculated the diel activity overlap between tigers and each prey species, as well as with humans and livestock. Overall, tigers had relatively high space use (0.540 ± 0.092) and detection probability (0.742 ± 0.073), and were most influenced by space use of wild pig (Sus scrofa), gaur (Bos gaurus) and number of livestock detections. Tigers exhibited extensive temporal overlap with their prey, but not with humans or livestock. Our study demonstrates that humans and tigers can co-occur in a landscape by altering diel activity and potentially moving cryptically in certain landscapes, provided adequate prey is available. Management actions that ensure adequate prey availability can benefit tiger conservation.