Guwahati, Feb. 7: The tiger population of the Northeast is genetically different from the rest of the country, an official tiger report has revealed for the first time.

The revelation was made in the detailed report of Status of the Tigers, Co-predators and Prey in India brought out by Wildlife Institute of India and National Tiger Conservation Authority that for the first time has dealt with genetic structure of tigers in the country to ensure effective conservation efforts.

There are mainly two large population clusters of tigers in the country - the northeastern population and population of the rest of the country.

"The tiger population in the Northeast represents a unique cluster when compared to those from the rest of the country. An interesting step would be to investigate the admixture of genetic material between these and the Indo-Chinese tigers ( Panthera tigris corbetti) found in the border areas of the northeastern states," the report said.

Senior professor at the Wildlife Institute of India and one of the authors of the report, Yadvendradev Jhala, said: "Tigers from the Northeast India are distinctly different in their genetic composition. This is likely as the Northeast tiger population probably forms a zone where there has been historic gene flow from Myanmar."

"This is the route tigers took to enter India and this process has been continuous, resulting in mixing of genes of tigers from Southeast Asia and India. It creates a different and distinct composition of gene frequencies in the region," he added.

Wildlife biologist with NGO Aaranyak, Firoz Ahmed, said: "The tigers of the Northeast have more chances to share its genes with the Southeast Asian tigers of Myanmar, Thailand and South China because of its habitat connectivity in the trans-boundary areas. Therefore, the Indo-Chinese sub-species and the tiger population of the Northeast India are likely to be very similar. Further genetic study may reveal this."

"The tiger population of the Northeast is significant for conservation as they may work as a stepping stone to exchange genes between the Royal Bengal tiger and Indo-Chinese tiger. This will help gene pool preservation within the tiger species," he added.

The report said the Northeast, Dibang and Namdapha formed one population cluster, while Manas, Kaziranga, Nameri and Buxa formed a second cluster.

Quantifying gene flow in tiger populations was also crucial to the understanding of how ancestry, dispersal and isolation operate in maintaining metapopulations, the report said. A metapopulation consists of a group of separated populations of the same species which interact at some level. The authorities also carried out non-invasive genetic sampling where tiger populations could not be assessed by camera trap because of logistic constraints like extremely low density. Scats collected in each landscape, across the country.

Under non-invasive genetic sampling , 12 tigers were found in Namdapha, Dibang and Dampa reserves in the Northeast, respectively.

Overall, in the northeastern hills and Brahmaputra landscape, Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong-Pakke-Nameri-Orang is the largest source (163 tigers) and should be managed as a single metapopulation. Enhanced protection in the region will help build prey and subsequently tiger population in the long-term, the report suggested.

Manas-Buxa, along with areas of Bhutan landscape, had potential to sustain higher number of tigers and were currently below their carrying capacity. Dibang and Namdapha show good promise for tiger and biodiversity conservation but needed more conservation investment, the report added.