Tigers of Sundarbans in India: Is the Population a Separate Conservation Unit?

Sundarbans tigers, though morphologically distinct from other Bengal tiger subspecies, are not genetically separate but should be managed as a unique 'evolutionarily significant unit' (ESU) due to their ecological non-exchangeability. The study analyzed nine microsatellites and 3 kb of mitochondrial DNA from four genes to assess genetic variability, population structure, and connectivity between Sundarbans tigers and mainland Indian populations. Findings revealed that while Sundarbans tigers are not a distinct subspecies, they exhibit stronger genetic differentiation in mitochondrial DNA compared to nuclear DNA, indicating recent divergence within the last 2000 years. The research suggests that historical habitat fragmentation has reduced gene flow, making these tigers ecologically distinct and warranting separate conservation strategies under the adaptive evolutionary conservation (AEC) concept.

Singh, S. K., Mishra, S., Aspi, J., Kvist, L., Nigam, P., Pandey, P., Sharma, R., & Goyal, S. P. (2015). Tigers of Sundarbans in India: Is the Population a Separate Conservation Unit? Plos One, 10(4), e0118846. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118846