Daily News Analysis

M-STrIPES

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Forest staff participating in the tiger and wildlife census at Anamalai Tiger Reserve will use the Monitoring System for Tigers: Intensive Protection and Ecological Status (M-STrIPES) mobile application to enhance monitoring and data accuracy.

About M-STrIPES

M-STrIPES is a software-based monitoring system developed to assist in the protection, monitoring, and ecological assessment of tiger habitats and other wildlife in protected areas.

It was launched in 2010 by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).

Objectives of M-STrIPES

The system aims to strengthen anti-poaching measures, improve wildlife monitoring, ensure scientific management of protected areas, and enhance accountability of forest patrol staff.

Components of the M-STrIPES System

M-STrIPES consists of two main components.
The first is a
central analytical engine, comprising desktop software and an online analysis tool used for data processing and decision-making.
The second is an
Android-based mobile application, which enables real-time field data collection and GPS-based tracking of patrol routes.

Technologies Used

The system uses GPS, GPRS, remote sensing, GIS, and statistical tools to collect field data, create digital databases, analyse ecological patterns, and generate management insights for tiger reserves.

Patrolling Protocol under M-STrIPES

Under M-STrIPES protocols, forest guards patrol their assigned beats and record patrol tracks using GPS-enabled devices, along with wildlife sightings and threats in site-specific data sheets.

A beat is the smallest administrative unit of forest management in India, usually assigned to one forest guard.

Key Facts about Anamalai Tiger Reserve

Location

Anamalai Tiger Reserve is located at an altitude of about 1,400 metres in the Anamalai Hills of Pollachi and Coimbatore districts of Tamil Nadu. It lies south of the Palakkad Gap in the Southern Western Ghats.

Boundaries

The reserve is surrounded by Parambikulam Tiger Reserve to the east and Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary and Eravikulam National Park to the southwest.

Indigenous Communities

Six indigenous communities inhabit the reserve: Kadar, Muduvar, Malasar, Malai Malasar, Eravalar, and Pulayar.

Vegetation

The reserve supports diverse habitats such as wet evergreen, semi-evergreen, moist deciduous, dry deciduous, dry thorn, and shola forests, along with montane grasslands, savannahs, and marshy grasslands.

Flora

It is rich in wild relatives of cultivated plants, including mango, jackfruit, wild plantain, ginger, turmeric, pepper, and cardamom.

Fauna

Major wildlife species include the tiger, Asiatic elephant, leopard, sambar, spotted deer, barking deer, jackal, and jungle cat.

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