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Bhopal city is the capital of Madhya Pradesh, where tiger (Panthera tigris Linn.) has been in co-existence in its juxtaposition of forested areas for centuries. The present paper is an attempt to study occupancy rate of tiger in adjoining areas of capital Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The occupancy survey was performed from December 2018 to April 2019 across the study area to estimate the overall occupancy rate Ψ on PRESENCE software version 13.6 of a total of 5312 km2 and segment distribution was 83 grid cells of size 64km2. The detected tiger sign in 49 out of 83 grid cells was confirmed, which yielded naïve occupancy of 0.5904. The tiger-occupied estimated potential tiger habitat is 70.83% of the total study area or an area of 3762.48 (SE=482.34) out of 5312 km2 Ratapani-Kheoni landscape. The probability of occurrence for the tiger was predicted at 1409.08 km2 in the study area of the landscape by using MaxEnt software. The identified tiger conservation prioritization units (TCPU) area was spatially distributed in five conservation units, namely TCPU_1 (50.99 km2), TCPU_2 (724.20 km2), TCPU_3 (104.43 km2), TCPU_4 (301.48 km2) and TCPU_5 (227.98 km2). The total TCPUs falling area was 1409.08 km2 as recognized high conservation value prioritization area after the Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping and TCPUs were depicted on the geo-referenced map for demarcation of protection treatment for optimum ecological restoration given co-existence of wildlife in future. The land falling under the TCPUs were holding a minimal 19 tigers between 2018 and 2019 based on DNA next-generation sequencing. The findings of study will be helpful in Decision Supporting System (DSS) for the demarcation of critical tiger habitat based on functional attributes and their connecting linkages. A landscape-level assessment was also performed to find out the principal reasons regarding the presence of tigers within the urban matrix. Some physical features of Vindhyan landscape, rugged terrain, abundant perennial water availability and Nilgai/cattle presence as limiting biotic factors influencing tiger presence in occupancy modeling. The findings of study will be useful in support to the strategic green development of Bhopal capital with special reference to tiger conservation in the Ratapani-Kheoni landscape. It is the priority to provide a safe habitat to the increasing population of tigers around Bhopal with minimum human-wildlife conflict. This effort will prove to be a foundation stone in establishing resilience ecosystem. The protection of TCPUs is most necessary to get the public cooperation of the people living in the villages around it. In order to get cooperation, the purpose of ecological resilience can be achieved by engaging in eco-tourism. The presence of P. tigris indicates the possibilities of a successful eco-tourism, which will lead to the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs). SDGs aim to prevent halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems. It will only succeed, if all stakeholders work as a team for conservation with sustainable development and required land is available without conflict.
Panthera tigris, co-existence, decision supporting system, green development, landscape management, Ratapani-Kheoni landscape, tiger conservation prioritization units, wildlife conservation.
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