Research overview: tiger corridors in central India

Central India holds a network of tiger reserves embedded in a matrix of forest, farmland, roads, and mines, making connectivity between reserves vital for genetic exchange and recolonization. This overview surveys landscape genetics and movement research showing that dispersing tigers use forest corridors to move between reserves such as Kanha, Pench, and Satpura, and that maintaining these linkages preserves gene flow. Studies combine genetic sampling, occupancy surveys, and connectivity modelling to identify which corridors remain functional and where infrastructure threatens to sever them. The work informs mitigation such as wildlife underpasses on highways and protection of corridor forests from conversion. It matters because isolated reserve populations risk inbreeding and stochastic extinction, while a connected metapopulation is far more resilient. Central India is a global model for corridor-based tiger conservation.