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Author (down) Karki, A., Panthi, S. url 
  Title Factors affecting livestock depredation by snow leopards (Panthera uncia) in the Himalayan region of Nepal Type Journal Article
  Year 2021 Publication PeerJ Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume 9 Issue e11575 Pages 1-14  
  Keywords Conflict,Habitat,Himalaya,Livestockdepredation,Modeling,Snowleopard,Wildlife management  
  Abstract The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) found in central Asia is classified as vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Every year, large number of livestock are killed by snow leopards in Nepal, leading to economic loss to local communities and making human-snow leopard conflict a major threat to snow leopard conservation. We conducted formal and informal stakeholder’s interviews to gather information related to livestock depredation with the aim to map the attack sites by the snow leopard. These sites were further validated by district forest office staffs to assess sources of bias. Attack sites older than 3 years were removed from the survey. We found 109 attack sites and visited all the sites for geo location purpose (GPS points of all unique sites were taken). We maintained at least a 100 m distance between attack locations to ensure that each attack location was unique, which resulted in 86 unique locations. A total of 235 km2 was used to define livestock depredation risk zone during this study. Using Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) modeling, we found that distance to livestock sheds, distance to paths, aspect, and distance to roads were major contributing factors to the snow leopard’s attacks. We identified 13.64 km2 as risk zone for livestock depredation from snow leopards in the study area. Furthermore, snow leopards preferred to attack livestock near livestock shelters, far from human paths and at moderate distance from motor roads. These identified attack zones should be managed both for snow leopard conservation and livestock protection in order to balance human livelihoods while protecting snow leopards and their habitats.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 1640  
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Author (down) Kachel, S.M. pdf 
  Title Large Carnivore Ecology and Conservation in the High Mountains of Central Asia Type Manuscript
  Year 2021 Publication Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume Issue Pages 1-170  
  Keywords  
  Abstract Predators shape their ecosystems through myriad interactions with prey, other predators, and humans. However, the effects of these interactions may be contingent on multiple contextual factors, hindering prediction in any given community and impeding a general understanding of the ecological effects of predators. Despite their prominence as conservation flagship in the mountains of Central Asia, even basic aspects of snow leopard (Panthera uncia) ecology remain underexplored and poorly understood. The ecology of wolves (Canis lupus), sympatric with snow leopards throughout that species’ range, has been even more neglected in the region, notwithstanding the significant impact of livestock depredation on pastoralist communities. This dissertation examines the interactions underlying the coexistence of wolves and snow leopards, including those with humans and their joint effects on prey, with the broader goal of improving our understanding of the context-dependence of the non-consumptive effects (NCEs) of predators. In Chapter 2, I explore the patterns of spatial, temporal, and dietary niche overlap between wolves and snow leopards in the Eastern Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan. I show that in

light of dietary and temporal overlap, the two predators’ coexistence may depend on strong spatial partitioning. In Chapter 3, I explore the consequences of this spatial partitioning by investigating how shared prey with distinct escape tactics, ibex (Capra sibirica) and argali (Ovis ammon), navigate the tradeoffs posed by the two predators in the Central Tien Shan Mountains of Kyrgyzstan. Each ungulate responded to each predator in a manner that was predictable based on the compatibility of their respective evasion and hunting-mode traits, suggesting that non- consumptive predator effects depend not on predator hunting mode or prey escape tactics, but rather on their interaction. Furthermore, short-term predation risk may upend each ungulates’ long-term risk avoidance strategy, suggesting that emergent effects of multiple predators may have important consequences in this system. In Chapter 4, I develop a novel approach to investigate large-scale patterns of livestock depredation risk and occurrence for wolves and snow leopards, but also lynx (Lynx lynx) and bears (Ursus arctos), in the Western Pamirs of Tajikistan. Livestock depredation was commonplace, with most communities exposed to multiple predators, highlighting that conservation efforts meant to reduce conflict between people and carnivores should aim to reduce depredation as it is experienced by human communities – a threat from the entire carnivore guild. Overall, my results suggest that single-species approaches to conservation in the mountains of Central Asia may be inadequate for ecosystems and people. This dissertation advances the cause of conservation in Central Asia by providing an empirical perspective on how snow leopards and wolves coexist and shape their ecosystems, and by providing practical insight into the challenge of livestock depredation and conflict, a primary threat to wolves and snow leopards in the region. By showing that the non-consumptive effects of predators cannot be predicted based solely on prey escape tactics or predator hunting mode alone, it also contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the role of predators in shaping ecosystems.
 
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  Corporate Author Thesis Ph.D. thesis  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number SLN @ rakhee @ Serial 1697  
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Author (down) Kachel, S., Bayrakcismith, R., Kubanychbekov, Z., Kulenbekov, R., McCarthy, T., Weckworth, B., Wirsing, A. pdf 
  Title Ungulate spatiotemporal responses to contrasting predation risk from wolves and snow leopards Type Journal Article
  Year 2022 Publication Journal of Animal Ecology Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume Issue Pages 1-16  
  Keywords landscape of fear, multiple-predator effects, non-consumptive effects, predation-risk effects, predator facilitation, risk allocation, snow leopard, wolf  
  Abstract 1. Spatial responses to risk from multiple predators can precipitate emergent consequences for prey (i.e. multiple-predator effects, MPEs) and mediate indirect interactions between predators. How prey navigate risk from multiple predators may therefore have important ramifications for understanding the propagation of predation-risk effects (PREs) through ecosystems.

2. The interaction of predator and prey traits has emerged as a potentially key driver of antipredator behaviour but remains underexplored in large vertebrate systems, particularly where sympatric prey share multiple predators. We sought to better generalize our understanding of how predators influence their ecosystems by considering how multiple sources of contingency drive prey distribution in a multi-predator–multi-prey system.

3. Specifically, we explored how two sympatric ungulates with different escape tactics—vertically agile, scrambling ibex Capra sibirica and sprinting argali Ovis ammon—responded to predation risk from shared predators with contrasting hunting modes—cursorial wolves Canis lupus and vertical-ambushing, stalking snow leopards Panthera uncia.

4. Contrasting risk posed by the two predators presented prey with clear trade-offs. Ibex selected for greater exposure to chronic long-term risk from snow leopards, and argali for wolves, in a nearly symmetrical manner that was predictable based on the compatibility of their respective traits. Yet, acute short-term risk from the same predator upended these long-term strategies, increasing each ungulates' exposure to risk from the alternate predator in a manner consistent with a scenario in which conflicting antipredator behaviours precipitate risk-enhancing MPEs and mediate predator facilitation. By contrast, reactive responses to wolves led ibex to reduce their exposure to risk from both predators—a risk-reducing MPE. Evidence of a similar reactive risk-reducing effect for argali vis-à-vis snow leopards was lacking.

5. Our results suggest that prey spatial responses and any resulting MPEs and prey-mediated interactions between predators are contingent on the interplay of hunting mode and escape tactics. Further investigation of interactions among various drivers of contingency in PREs will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding and improved forecasting of the ecological effects of predators.
 
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number SLN @ rakhee @ Serial 1704  
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Author (down) Kachel, S., Anderson, K., Shokirov, Q. pdf 
  Title Predicting carnivore habitat use and livestock depredation risk with false-positive multi-state occupancy models Type Journal Article
  Year 2022 Publication Biological Conservation Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume 271 Issue 109588 Pages 1-10  
  Keywords Bayesian hierarchical model,False-positive,Multi-state occupancy,Human-carnivore conflict,Livestock depredation,Snow leopard,Lynx,Wolf,Bear  
  Abstract The cycle of livestock depredation and retaliatory killing constitutes a major threat to large carnivores worldwide and imposes considerable hardships on human communities. Mitigation efforts are often undertaken with little knowledge of ecological underpinnings and patterns of depredation, limiting conservationists' ability to develop, prioritize, and evaluate solutions. Carnivore detection and depredation data from interviews in affected communities may help address this gap, but such data are often prone to false-positive uncertainty. To address these challenges in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan we collected snow leopard, lynx, wolf, and bear detection and depredation reports from local communities via semi-structured interviews. We used a novel hierarchical multi-species multi-state occupancy model that accounted for potential false-positives to investigate carnivore site use and depredation concurrently with respondents' apparent vulnerability to that risk. Estimated false-positive probabilities were small, but failure to account for them overstated site use probabilities and depredation risk for all species. Although individual vulnerability was low, depredation was nonetheless commonplace. Carnivore site use was driven by clear habitat associations, but we did not identify any clearly important large-scale spatial correlates of depredation risk despite considerable spatial variation in that risk. Respondents who sheltered livestock in household corrals reinforced with wire mesh were less likely to report snow leopard depredations. Reducing depredation and retaliation at adequately large scales in the Pamirs will likely require a portfolio of species-specific strategies, including widespread proactive corral improvements. Our approach expanded inference on the often-cryptic processes surrounding human-carnivore conflict even though structured wildlife data were scarce.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number SLN @ rakhee @ Serial 1681  
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Author (down) Kachel, S. M., Karimov, K., Wirsing, A. J. pdf 
  Title Predator niche overlap and partitioning and potential interactions in the mountains of Central Asia Type Journal Article
  Year 2022 Publication Journal of Mammalogy Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume XX(X) Issue Pages 1-11  
  Keywords intraguild interactions, niche partitioning, snow leopard, spatial capture–recapture, wolf  
  Abstract Direct and indirect interactions among predators affect predator fitness, distribution, and overall community structure. Yet, outside of experimental settings, such interactions are difficult to observe and thus poorly understood. Patterns of niche overlap among predators reflect and shape community interactions and may therefore help elucidate the nature and intensity of intraguild interactions. To better understand the coexistence of two apex predators, snow leopards (Panthera uncia) and wolves (Canis lupus), we investigated their spatial, temporal, and dietary niche overlap in summer in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan. We estimated population- level space use via spatial capture–recapture models based on noninvasive genetics and camera traps, diel activity patterns based on camera trap detections, and diet composition from prey remains in carnivore scats, from which we estimated coefficients between 0 and 1 for overlap in space, time, and diet, respectively. Snow leopards and wolves displayed moderate spatial partitioning (0.26, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.17–37), but overlapping temporal (0.77, 95% CI: 0.64–0.90) and dietary (0.97, 95% CI: 0.80–0.99) niches. Both predators relied on seasonally abundant marmots (Marmota caudata) rather than wild ungulates, their typical primary prey, suggesting that despite patterns of overlap that were superficially conducive to exploitation competition and predator facilitation, prey were likely not a limiting factor. Therefore, prey-mediated interactions, if present, were unlikely to be a major structuring force in the ecosystem. By implication, carnivore conservation planning and monitoring in the mountains of Central Asia should more fully account for the seasonal importance of marmots in the ecosystem.  
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  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
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  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number SLN @ rakhee @ Serial 1680  
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Author (down) Johansson, O., Ullman, K., Lkhagvajav, P., Wiseman, M., Malmsten, J., Leijon, M. url 
  Title Detection and Genetic Characterization of Viruses Present in Free-Ranging Snow Leopards Using Next-Generation Sequencing Type Journal Article
  Year 2020 Publication Frontiers in Veterinary Science Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume 7 Issue 645 Pages 1-9  
  Keywords snow leopard, free-ranging, virome, Mongolia, rectal swabs, next-generating sequencing, Panthera unica  
  Abstract Snow leopards inhabit the cold, arid environments of the high

mountains of South and Central Asia. These living conditions likely

affect the abundance and composition of microbes with the capacity to

infect these animals. It is important to investigate the microbes that

snow leopards are exposed to detect infectious disease threats and

define a baseline for future changes that may impact the health of this

endangered felid. In this work, next-generation sequencing is used to

investigate the fecal (and in a few cases serum) virome of seven snow

leopards from the Tost Mountains of Mongolia. The viral species to which

the greatest number of sequences reads showed high similarity was

rotavirus. Excluding one animal with overall very few sequence reads,

four of six animals (67%) displayed evidence of rotavirus infection. A

serum sample of a male and a rectal swab of a female snow leopard

produced sequence reads identical or closely similar to felid

herpesvirus 1, providing the first evidence that this virus infects snow

leopards. In addition, the rectal swab from the same female also

displayed sequence reads most similar to feline papillomavirus 2, which

is the first evidence for this virus infecting snow leopards. The rectal

swabs from all animals also showed evidence for the presence of small

circular DNA viruses, predominantly Circular Rep-Encoding

Single-Stranded (CRESS) DNA viruses and in one case feline anellovirus.

Several of the viruses implicated in the present study could affect the

health of snow leopards. In animals which are under environmental

stress, for example, young dispersing individuals and lactating females,

health issues may be exacerbated by latent virus infections.
 
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  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 1612  
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Author (down) Johansson, O., Nyam, E., Lkhagvajav, P., Alexander, J. A., Samelius, G. pdf 
  Title Predation Patterns and Hunting Behaviour of Snow Leopards: Insights from an Ibex Hunt Type Journal Article
  Year 2023 Publication Snow Leopard Reports Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume Issue Pages 6-9  
  Keywords ambush, Capra sibirica, kill site, mountain, Panthera uncia  
  Abstract The hunting behaviours of the snow leopard (Panthera uncia) are poorly understood. In this note, we describe the successful hunt of an adult male ibex (Capra sibirica) by a known male snow leopard in Tost Mountains, Mongolia. The hunt started in a mountain slope close to three large boulders and progressed downhill for 115 m until it concluded at the bottom of a drainage. By comparing the habitat where the ibex was killed to the kill sites of 158 ibex and 17 argali (Ovis ammon) that were killed by GPS-collared snow leopards, we demonstrate that the majority (62%) of these kills occurred in drainages. We propose that in successful hunts, snow leopards commonly ambush from above, causing prey individuals to typically flee downhill. Thereby the prey maintain their momentum and it is not until they are slowed down upon reaching the bottom of the drainage that the snow leopards are able to subdue them.  
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  Corporate Author Thesis  
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  Language Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
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  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number SLN @ rakhee @ Serial 1730  
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Author (down) Johansson, O., Mishra, C., Chapron, G., Samelius, G., Lkhagvajav, P., McCarthy, T., Low, M. pdf 
  Title Seasonal variation in daily activity patterns of snow leopards and their prey Type Journal Article
  Year 2022 Publication Nature Portfolio Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume 12 Issue 21681 Pages 1-11  
  Keywords  
  Abstract The daily and seasonal activity patterns of snow leopards (Panthera uncia) are poorly understood, limiting our ecological understanding and hampering our ability to mitigate threats such as climate change and retaliatory killing in response to livestock predation. We fitted GPS-collars with activity loggers to snow leopards, Siberian ibex (Capra sibirica: their main prey), and domestic goats (Capra hircus: common livestock prey) in Mongolia between 2009 and 2020. Snow leopards were facultatively nocturnal with season-specific crepuscular activity peaks: seasonal activity shifted towards night- sunrise during summer, and day-sunset in winter. Snow leopard activity was in contrast to their prey, which were consistently diurnal. We interpret these results in relation to: (1) darkness as concealment for snow leopards when stalking in an open landscape (nocturnal activity), (2) low-intermediate light preferred for predatory ambush in steep rocky terrain (dawn and dusk activity), and (3) seasonal activity adjustments to facilitate thermoregulation in an extreme environment. These patterns suggest that to minimise human-wildlife conflict, livestock should be corralled at night and dawn in summer, and dusk in winter. It is likely that climate change will intensify seasonal effects on the snow leopard’s daily temporal niche for thermoregulation in the future.  
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  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number SLN @ rakhee @ Serial 1710  
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Author (down) Johansson, O., Kachel, S., Weckworth, B. pdf 
  Title Guidelines for Telemetry Studies on Snow Leopards Type Journal Article
  Year 2022 Publication Animals Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume 12 Issue 1663 Pages 1-12  
  Keywords animal welfare; capture; collar; felid; GPS; immobilization; Panthera uncia; trapping  
  Abstract Animal-borne tracking devices have generated a wealth of new knowledge, allowing us to better understand, manage and conserve species. Fitting such tracking devices requires that animals are captured and often chemically immobilized. Such procedures cause stress and involve the risk of injuries and loss of life even in healthy individuals. For telemetry studies to be justifiable, it is vital that capture operations are planned and executed in an efficient and ethical way. Project objectives must be clearly articulated to address well-defined knowledge gaps, and studies designed to maximize the probability of achieving those goals. We provide guidelines for how to plan, design, and implement telemetry studies with a special emphasis on snow leopards that are typically captured using foot snares. We also describe the necessary steps to ensure that captures are conducted safely, and with minimal stress to animals.  
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  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
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  ISSN ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number SLN @ rakhee @ Serial 1712  
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Author (down) Johansson, O., Ausilio, G., Low, M., Lkhagvajav, P., Weckworth, B., Sharma, K. url 
  Title The timing of breeding and independence for snow leopard females and their cubs. Type Journal Article
  Year 2020 Publication Mammalian Biology Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume Issue Pages  
  Keywords Age of independence; Life-history trade-offs; Panthera uncia; Parental care; Pre-dispersal behavior; Separation; Subadult  
  Abstract Significant knowledge gaps persist on snow leopard demography

and reproductive behavior. From a GPS-collared population in Mongolia,

we estimated the timing of mating, parturition and independence. Based

on three mother–cub pairs, we describe the separation phase of the cub

from its mother as it gains independence. Snow leopards mated from

January–March and gave birth from April–June. Cubs remained with their

mother until their second winter (20–22 months of age) when cubs started

showing movements away from their mother for days at a time. This

initiation of independence appeared to coincide with their mother mating

with the territorial male. Two female cubs remained in their mothers’

territory for several months after initial separation, whereas the male

cub quickly dispersed. By comparing the relationship between body size

and age of independence across 11 solitary, medium-to-large felid

species, it was clear that snow leopards have a delayed timing of

separation compared to other species. We suggest this may be related to

their mating behavior and the difficulty of the habitat and prey capture

for juvenile snow leopards. Our results, while limited, provide

empirical estimates for understanding snow leopard ecology and for

parameterizing population models.
 
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  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 1613  
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