Nazrul Islam, Rathin Barman, Sanatan Deka, Samir Kr. Sinha and Rahul Kaul
Abstract
The Natural World Heritage Sites (WHS) are recognized for their global significance in biodiversity conservation. With such an intention, the eastern part of Manas Reserved Forest was upgraded to the First Addition to Manas National Park (NP) in August 2016 on the west of the existing Manas WHS and NP in Assam, India. This study was conducted to assess the abundance and occupancy of top predators and their prey species considering both direct sighting and indirect evidence including camera trap photographs recorded in this landscape. The naïve occupancy (Psi) of the tiger was 0.3412, while the density was 2.29 individuals per 100 sq. km. Moreover, the naïve occupancy (Psi) of the leopard was 0.1647 and the dhole was 0.1765. Relative abundance index (RAI) estimate of the prey species was highest for sambar (RAI=21.26) followed by Indian bison (RAI=15.84), barking deer (RAI=14.22), wild boar (RAI= 5.13) and hog deer (RAI=2.93). Recovery of the wildlife population, improved enforcement, community engagement, and transboundary cooperation will definitely increase the extension potentiality of Manas WHS to the First Addition to Manas NP on the west and maintain the integrity of the landscape with the Royal Manas NP of Bhutan on the north.