The power of the tiger: how one species can change the lives of farmers
The power of the tiger: how one species can change the lives of farmers
Farmers in rural areas must engage with surrounding wildlife to protect their livelihoods. Development and human-wildlife conflict threaten large predators living near human settlements. In a study from a national park in Bhutan, researchers found that tigers in forested areas near farmlands can have large-scale impacts in the ecosystem that lead to fewer agricultural losses. The indirect benefits tigers bring to farmers could have important wildlife conservation implications.
Thinley, Phuntsho, Rajanathan Rajaratnam, James P. Lassoie, Stephen J. Morreale, Paul D. Curtis, Karl Vernes, Leki Leki, Sonam Phuntsho, Tshering Dorji, and Pema Dorji. “The Ecological Benefit of Tigers (Panthera Tigris) to Farmers in Reducing Crop and Livestock Losses in the Eastern Himalayas: Implications for Conservation of Large Apex Predators.” Biological Conservation 219 (March 1, 2018): 119–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.01.015.
Picture a tiger: huge orange body, jagged black stripes, feet padded for silent hunting. The forest’s apex, or top, predator. Impressive on their own, tigers are also important in how they influence animal interactions in ecosystems. When tigers move, other animals respond. Smaller predators like leopards and dholes (wild dogs) keep clear of tigers, moving towards the forest edge to occupy the same space as agricultural thieves – wild pigs and deer. Pigs and deer are the most significant threats farmers face, eating crops, ransacking fields, and harming farmer livelihoods. In systems without tigers, leopards and dholes occupy forested areas far away from the human settlements, and pigs and deer have the run of the field, destroying crops unimpeded. Tigers change everything. When tigers push the secondary predators out of the deep jungle towards farmlands, they find new sources of food: the agricultural thieves. The secondary predators happily prey on pigs and deer, reducing threats to farmers’ fields. Tigers start an important ecological cascade that plays a key role in protecting farmers’ livelihoods in rural villages.
In a study published in Biological Conservation, researchers worked with farmers in Jigme Dorji National Park in Bhutan to analyze this relationship. Villages within the park are agriculture-based, located in rural areas, and consist of terraced fields surrounded by forest. In each village they studied, the researchers set up five camera traps to monitor local animals. The camera traps were motion activated and took a photo when an animal walked in front of them. The researchers also looked for feces, animal footprints, and animal observations. To document the impact of wildlife on farms, the researchers tracked the number of times crops were damaged and correlated those numbers with the presence or absence of different predator species in different seasons.
Using camera trap surveys and GPS points, the researchers plotted the distances of each species away from farmlands. Tigers tend to avoid areas inhabited by humans, keeping an average distance of 2000 meters from the cropland edge. When tigers were present in the forest, other predators occupied areas closer to farmlands, at an average distance of 600 meters. In the absence of tigers, predators stayed about 2000 meters away from villages. With the secondary predators deep in the forest, there were more incidences of crop loss. When tigers were present in the ecosystem, the frequency of crop losses was reduced by a magnitude of 2.25.
The results show that tigers can influence the spatial distribution of smaller animals in the ecosystem. A tiger in the forest pushes secondary predators closer to farmlands. Instead of hunting in the forest, the secondary predators hunt near farmland boundaries and prey on the real pests to farmers. By preying on wild pigs and deer, the secondary predators ensure there are fewer animals to destroy crops and ruin farms. The change in spatial distribution documented by the researchers shifts the primary food sources for these animals. This cascading effect in the food web starts with a single species: the tiger.
Tigers’ presence in ecosystems bring nearby farmers significant benefits. The researchers calculated tigers save farmers US $1570 per year in avoided crop yield and livestock loss. According to a 2016 study on livelihoods in Bhutan, this is 70% of the average per capita income of US $2230. For people in a historically difficult profession, these savings could be the difference between making a living and going hungry. Tigers can bring tangible benefits to farmers through this cascading ecosystem effect. Increasing farmers’ awareness of a tiger’s impact throughout an ecosystem and the resulting protection of farmer livelihoods could boost tiger conservation efforts.
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