ORIGINAL PAPER Studies to determine presence or absence of the Indian tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) in Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary, India P. Anuradha Reddy & A. Kumaraguru & P. Raghuveer Yadav & A. Ramyashree & Jyotsna Bhagavatula & Sisinthy Shivaji Received: 15 July 2010 / Revised: 5 October 2010 / Accepted: 11 October 2010 # Springer-Verlag 2010 Abstract A decade back, almost 300,000 km 2 of forests in India were estimated to be potential tiger habitat. But consistent degradation and unsustainable anthropogenic pres- sures have adversely affected tiger presence in most of the forests outside the better protected tiger reserves. Here we use Geographic Information System data to analyze the degree of vegetation loss and landscape changes over the last decade (1998–2006), and ascertain the presence of tigers in a degraded forest like the Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh, India, by non-invasive fecal DNA analysis. Vegetation cover maps show a clear degradation of the sanctuary within a decade. DNA analysis of scat samples reveals tiger presence in areas where closed dense forest canopy has persisted with minimal human disturbance during the last decade. Keywords GIS . Tiger . Fecal DNA . Degraded forest Introduction “Project Tiger” was launched in March 1973 to overcome the alarming rate at which the forests were vanishing and tigers were decreasing in numbers in India. Unfortunately, the trend seems to be continuing in India as well as other parts of the tiger ’ s range. Dinerstein et al. (2007) reported that the current tiger range is only 7% of the historic range, and within the last one decade the estimated area known to be occupied by tigers has declined 41%. In 1999, Wikramanayake et al. estimated more than 300,000 km 2 of forests as potentially suitable for tigers in India. But, according to a recent survey, potential tiger habitats in the protected areas of India add up to only 100,000 km 2 , while the reproductively active source populations occupy less than 20,000 km 2 (Thapar 2006). Tigers in most of these potential areas outside the tiger reserves either occur in very low densities or have been locally extirpated (Karanth et al. 2004). Despite poaching and vengeful killing, or the tremendous and unsustainable anthropogenic pressures on forests which have adversely affected all national parks/sanctuaries/ reserve forests, the tiger has survived in India. However, what are the limits of its resilience and how much of the disturbed forests outside the national parks does the tiger really use? There are not many studies showing how encroachments and unregu- lated biotic pressures have further degraded the already fragmented landscapes in the last decade, neither have any attempts been made to ascertain tiger presence in such areas by rigorously tested methods like camera-trap or DNA studies. This study is an attempt to address the above lacuna by using Geographic Information System (GIS) data to analyze the degree of vegetation loss and landscape changes over the last decade (1998–2006), and ascertain the presence of tigers in a degraded forest like the Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh, India, by non-invasive fecal DNA analysis. The implications of our results may be used for the future management of Kawal and other disturbed forests of India. Methodology Study area The Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary (893 km 2 ) is located between 78.558°E, 19.274°N to 79.232°E, 19.009°N and Communicated by C. Gortázar P. A. Reddy : A. Kumaraguru : P. R. Yadav : A. Ramyashree : J. Bhagavatula : S. Shivaji (*) Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500 007, India e-mail: shivas@ccmb.res.in Eur J Wildl Res DOI 10.1007/s10344-010-0460-3