Carnivores and Connectivity: Studying Movement of an Endangered Canid in a Human-Dominated Landscape

Habitat loss and fragmentation threatens wildlife worldwide, a trend assumed to continue with increasing human populations. Knowing how species adapt and move between isolated pockets of natural habitat is important for management and conservation. This project aims to investigate connectivity, dispersal, and social dynamics in a threatened, large carnivore called dholes. Taking vantage point in Baluran National Park in East Java, Indonesia, one of the most densely populated islands on Earth. Dholes will be fitted with GPS-collars to investigate movement and social dynamics. Scats will be collected to explore their diet, and DNA will be extracted both from tissue and scat samples to examine genetic structure and diversity. Dholes of East Java represents a scenario expected to become an ever more occurring phenomenon in the future as natural habitats decrease and become more isolated. Methods developed will, therefore, be transferable to other species and systems.