Abundance and activity of carnivores in two protected areas of semi-arid western India with varying top predator density and human impacts

Large carnivores are vulnerable to population decline due to their k -selected traits in fragmented human-dominated landscapes. In the semi-arid landscape of western India, tiger (top predator) populations went locally extinct from most of the forested ecosystems, while the mesopredators (leopards, hyenas, wolves) managed to survive in these mosaics of forest, agriculture, pasturelands, ravines, and human habitations. In this study, we used camera traps to survey two protected areas (PAs) in the semi-arid western Indian landscape—Mukundara (without tigers) and Ranthambhore (with high-density tiger population)—and compare the abundance and activity of mesopredators between sites to assess the effect of top predator presence on mesopredators. The carnivore community was more diverse in Ranthambhore (well-protected) than in the human disturbed habitats of Mukundara; however, the relative abundance of mesopredators was higher in Mukundara. Striped hyena density was estimated higher in Mukundara (40.6 ± 7.36/100 km 2 ) than in Ranthambhore (9.3 ± 1.3/100 km 2 ), while leopard density estimates were comparable (Mukundara, 10.9 ± 3.0/100 km 2 ; Ranthambhore, 11.2 ± 1.6/100 km 2 ). Temporal activities of carnivores in Mukundara indicated avoidance of human disturbance, while in Ranthambhore, it seemed primarily governed by competitive interactions between carnivores. Our findings are indicative of the mesopredator release hypothesis, where the number of mesopredators increased in the absence of top predator; however, the results are confounded by differential resource availability, human disturbance, and poaching levels between sites. The outcomes emphasised the importance of conserving habitat fragments (irrespective of charismatic species’ presence) in human-dominated landscapes to conserve carnivore populations. Conservation investments should focus on habitat protection, securing inviolate areas inside the PAs and restoring connectivity between PAs.