Mesopredator spatial and temporal response to large-predators and anthropogenic activities in a Central Indian Reserve

The survival and long-term persistence of mammalian carnivores is a key conservation challenge in developing countries like India. Many species of carnivores are forced to inhabit unprotected human-dominated landscapes given the miniscule proportion of land designated to protected areas. Differential human activity across a landscape grossly influences the activity patterns of both predator and prey species, depending on their degree of specialisation in feeding habits and habitat use. There lies a dearth of studies addressing the spatio-temporal dynamics of large and meso-predators in such disturbed landscapes. We conducted camera trap studies in dry deciduous forests of Tadoba-Andhari Tig…