Tiger conservation 889
extent and trends of the published research, and (2) what are the research gaps? We designed the systematic scoping re- view to identify focal research areas, the spatial and tem- poral distribution of study sites, general publication trends, the extent of empirical studies, and gaps in tiger conservation research in the Terai Arc Landscape and Himalayan region (spanning Bhutan, India and Nepal). We also make recommendations to help scientists, policy- makers and managers prioritize research and conservation initiatives for the region’s tiger population.
Study area
The Terai Arc Landscape includes the Shivalik hills in the outer Himalayan range and the Terai regions of north- western India and southern Nepal. This 5 million ha area stretches from the Bagmati River in Nepal to the Yamuna River in India, and includes 14 protected areas, including the well-known tiger reserves of Corbett and Rajaji. In add- ition to the tiger, this landscape harbours other flagship species, such as the one-horned rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis and Asian elephant Elephas maximus (Umariya et al., 2021). This area is a mega-biodiversity hotspot and a geo-ecological asset that provides ecosystem services (water, food and energy) to 240 million people (Sharma et al., 2019). Human population growth and poverty throughout this
region result in unsustainable natural resource extraction and consequent biodiversity loss (Sanderson et al., 2019). Effective governance of natural resources and sustainable practices are limited, adding to conservation challenges (Yadav et al., 2019). In addition, climate change is affecting the fragile ecosystems that dominate the area, resulting in re- ceding glaciers, damage to permafrost, and perturbations in ecosystem function and structure (Pandey et al., 2020). Biodiversity loss is exacerbated by the heavy dependence of local human communities on natural resources, unabated and unplanned infrastructure development, overexploitation of medicinal and aromatic plants, and poaching and illegal wildlife trafficking (Sandhu & Sandhu, 2015). Such threats do not occur in isolation, and tigers, together with other species, are impacted.
Methods
Systematic scoping review We conducted a systematic scoping review to address the two primary research questions: (1) what are the nature, extent and trends of the published research on tiger conser- vation in the Terai Arc Landscape and Himalayas, and (2) what research gaps need to be addressed? Although several literature review strategies exist (see Grant & Booth, 2009, for a comparison of approaches), the systematic scoping
review is a form of knowledge synthesis that incorporates a range of study designs to summarize and synthesize evi- dence comprehensively to inform practice, programmes and policy for providing direction to set future research pri- orities (Tricco et al., 2016; Turner et al., 2020). The system- atic scoping review has been used widely in the medical sciences, and increasingly in biodiversity conservation and natural resource management (e.g. Robinne et al., 2020; Rana et al., 2021). We used the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items
for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses for Scoping Reviews) guidelines to ensure a robust and replicable pro- cess. These guidelines are designed to improve the com- pleteness of systematic reviews (for a review, see Tricco et al., 2018) and are helpful for mapping evidence to produce a visual representation of results (e.g. Verbos et al., 2018; Zajchowski et al., 2019). Additionally, PRISMA-ScR outlines aminimumset of items intended to improve methodologic- al transparency and review outcomes (Stander et al., 2019). Combining approaches outlined by PRISMA-ScR, Grant & Booth (2009) and other scoping reviews (e.g. Zajchowski et al., 2019), we used the following process to collect, analyse and collate the data.
Preliminary search and keyword development
Initially, we used two databases (Google Scholar and Web of Science) and the search terms ‘tiger conservation,’‘human– tiger conflicts,’‘tiger habitat,’‘human–tiger co-occurrence,’ ‘tiger presence,’‘livestock depredation by tigers,’ and ‘tiger population’ to identify additional keywords contained in article abstracts, keyword lists and titles. These initial arti- cles and reports helped refine our search strategies and key-
words.Wedeveloped final search keywords using the results from this preliminary search.
Search strategy and inclusion/exclusion criteria
In the preliminary search, we identified that Google Scholar and Web of Science provided adequate and comprehensive coverage of the literature, evidenced by duplicate occurrences of sources across specialized databases (e.g. Zoological Records).We conducted a scoping exercise to assess alterna- tive search terms by testing them against 20 relevant publica- tions. We then modified and amended keywords based on expert suggestions from subject area experts from the Global Tiger Forum,TigersUnitedUniversityConsortium, and auni- versity research librarian trained in systematic searchmethods. The final list of search terms was: anthropogenic disturbance, attack, attitude, behaviour, Bhutan, big cats, camera trap, co- existence, common-pool resources, communities, community development, community-based conservation, compensation, conflicts, conservation policy, community conservation,
Oryx, 2022, 56(6), 888–896 © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605322001156
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