Experts Say ‘No’ To Mining In Madhya Pradesh
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First published in Sanctuary Asia,
Vol. 33
No. 4,
April 2013
Recent research published in the journal Ecology and Evolution, conducted by two scientists from the state, associated with Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI), Washington, investigated the spatial genetic structure of the tiger meta-population in the Satpura-Maikal landscape using the genetic data from 273 individual tigers and 217 leopards to reveal that proposed coal mines, widening of the NH-7 and railway lines that cut across the region's tiger reserves would impede gene flow and impact the future of species. Lead author of the tiger study and visiting scholar of the SCBI, Dr. Sandeep Sharma, says in the Times of India, “Big cat populations will be divided into groups if their habitat is fragmented. It can lead to inbreeding and a genetic bottleneck, which will affect their long-term survival."
Source: Sanctuary Asia.
