Ecological factors at fine spatial scale associated with habitat use by tigers in western Terai Arc landscape, Nepal

Conservation of designated source sites is a fundamental strategy for global tiger recovery. Reliable estimates of tiger Panthera tigris habitat use within these source sites are crucial for informing effective management strategies. In this study, we assessed tiger habitat use within Bardia-Banke Complex, one of the 42 global source sites, situated in the western Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) of Nepal. We conducted a grid-based detection and non-detection camera trap survey across 719 grid cells, each measuring 2×2 km². To assess tiger habitat use while accounting for imperfect detectability, we applied a single-season occupancy model. We analyzed nine covariates that have potential to influence tiger habitat use in the Complex, including terrain, co-predators, prey, water availability and disturbance. We found that fine scale (2x2 km2) tiger habitat use in the Complex was 0.43 (SE ± 0.0085, 95% CI: 0.414 - 0.448). Our analysis demonstrated that tigers used habitats unevenly across the Bar..., To assess fine-scale habitat associations, we used non-invasive camera traps to survey the entire Bardia and Banke National Park along with adjoining forest area following the standard tiger monitoring protocol from 16 December 2021 to 12 March 2022. We used grid-based sampling approach and divided the study area into 719 grid cells of size 2x2 km2 for systematic detection and non-detection camera trap survey. Cuddeback (C1), Panthera (V5 and V6) and Reconyx automated cameras with white flash were used to capture photos of tigers and other wild animals. Camera traps were mounted on standing trees or pegged wooden poles 45 – 60 cm above the ground, perpendicular to, and 6 m – 10 m apart on either side of game trails, forest roads, and riverbeds.  Each survey occasion consisted of a 15-16 day camera-trapping session, with cameras monitored twice a week in accordance with Nepal's tiger and prey monitoring protocol (DNPWC, 2017). Tiger detection (photographs) and non-detection (absence..., , # **Ecological factors at fine spatial scale associated with tiger occupancy in western Terai Arc landscape, Nepal**

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.6q573n65q](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.6q573n65q)

## Description of the data and file structure

Data comprises information on grids, detection histories (\"1\"- detected or \"0\" -non-detected), and covariates. The first column represents the grid codes of camera stations, which included 720 unique IDs (Id_grid). Detection histories included 20 spatial replicates from R1 to R1.16. Covariates are elevation (ele) (meter), slope (degree), aspect (degree), topographic ruggedness index (tri) (dimension less), distance to buildings (dist_build) (meter), distance to river (dist_river) (meter), distance to road (dist_road) (meter), distance to artificial waterholes (dist_water) (meter), normalized difference vegetation index (ndvi) (dimension less), prey index (prey)(dimension less), and carnivore index (carnivores) (dimension less). Remotely sense...,