The change in spatial distribution documented by the researchers shifts the primary food sources for these animals. By preying on wild pigs and deer, the secondary predators ensure there are fewer animals to destroy crops and ruin farms. Instead of hunting in the forest, the secondary predators hunt near farmland boundaries and prey on the real pests to farmers. A tiger in the forest pushes secondary predators closer to farmlands. The results show that tigers can influence the spatial distribution of smaller animals in the ecosystem. When tigers were present in the ecosystem, the frequency of crop losses was reduced by a magnitude of 2.25. With the secondary predators deep in the forest, there were more incidences of crop loss. In the absence of tigers, predators stayed about 2000 meters away from villages. When tigers were present in the forest, other predators occupied areas closer to farmlands, at an average distance of 600 meters. Tigers tend to avoid areas inhabited by humans, keeping an average distance of 2000 meters from the cropland edge. Using camera trap surveys and GPS points, the researchers plotted the distances of each species away from farmlands. 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. The researchers also looked for feces, animal footprints, and animal observations. The camera traps were motion activated and took a photo when an animal walked in front of them. In each village they studied, the researchers set up five camera traps to monitor local animals. Villages within the park are agriculture-based, located in rural areas, and consist of terraced fields surrounded by forest. In a study published in Biological Conservation, researchers worked with farmers in Jigme Dorji National Park in Bhutan to analyze this relationship. Tigers start an important ecological cascade that plays a key role in protecting farmers’ livelihoods in rural villages. The secondary predators happily prey on pigs and deer, reducing threats to farmers’ fields. When tigers push the secondary predators out of the deep jungle towards farmlands, they find new sources of food: the agricultural thieves. 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. Pigs and deer are the most significant threats farmers face, eating crops, ransacking fields, and harming farmer livelihoods. 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.
Impressive on their own, tigers are also important in how they influence animal interactions in ecosystems. Picture a tiger: huge orange body, jagged black stripes, feet padded for silent hunting.
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