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Kashkarov, E. (2017). THE SNOW LEOPARD OF KIRGIZIA: NATIONAL SHAME OR NATIONAL PRIDE.239–253.
Abstract: Article examines the problems existing in conservation of the snow leopard in Kirgizia after break-up of the
USSR. Unfortunate situation is common to most of the 14 countries in the snow leopard range, but seems especially sharp to Kirgizia. Yet half of the century ago Kirgizia has had about 1.5 thousand of the snow leopards, and today there remains no more than 1/10. In Soviet time Kirgizia was a global supplier of the snow leopards for the zoo-export � to create a reserve number of endangered cats in captivity. Today, at least half of the snow leopards in the Zoos of the world are individuals, caught in Kirgizia or their descendants. Since independence, Kirgizia has set new records. In Sarychat-Irtash reserve � the best for the snow leopard in Central Asia, and probably in the whole range � this species was completely destroyed after 3 years of reserve opening... and 17 years later � revived... Situation comes presently back to the worst-case scenario, and not only for the snow leopard. Author shows how work in this direction social and economic levers, and what kind future he would like to see in Kirgizia, where he lived for 12 years and was at the forefront of pioneering research of the snow leopard and its conservation. |
Kashkarov, E. (2017). ZOOGEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERIES IN WESTERN BERINGIA.208–217.
Abstract: Among zoogeographical discoveries of the frontier of XXI century there is nothing more interesting
than discoveries of Rodion Sivolobov in Western Beringia. Beringia has surprised us by paleontological discoveries many centuries ago, and also surprised by modern one. Somehow they came out of attention of all International environmental foundations and Academies of the world, as if on purpose to show their professional incompetence. It is the only way to describe the organization, not to notice the appearance of such big cats as the Snow leopard and Amur tiger for 5,000 kilometers from the border of main range, as well as large Pleistocene relict � the Irkuyembear. All three endangered species of mammals found by Sivolobov in Koryakia and Chukotka, and for the snow leopard he took the world's first photo in Beringia. New facts suggests two things: (1) the ancient refuges of big cats locate to Koryakia and Chukotka much closer of main ranges, (2) global warming, changing natural environment on the waves of hundred-year rhythms, periodically pushing irbis and tiger on the ways of ancient Beringian migrations stored in their genetic memories. Irkuyem is a contemporary of the mammoth. 209 Unlike it, this bear lived up to our days, but remained undetected even by the large “mammoths” of science. |
Sivolobov, R. (2017). ENDANGERED SPECIES OF KORYAKIA AND CHUKOTKA: IRBIS, TIGER AND THE IRKUYEM-BEAR.225–233.
Abstract: After 30 years of searching for the mysterious Beringian snow cat in vast space of Koryakia and Chukotka
one of the five cameras recorded finally this beast at night in September 2014. This is not so much a sensation as a real scientific discovery, saying that the hearts of the snow leopard population resettlement are not in 5000 km from the main range boundaries, but much closer. Where? � will show further studies. In addition to the snow leopard in the North-Eastern Asia, it found two more endangered large mammal species: the Amur tiger and the relict of the Ice Age � the Irkuyem-bear. Author has given these animals his life and his article devoted to this topic. |
Murali, R., Lkhagvajav, P., Saeed, U., Kizi, V. A., Nawaz, M. A., Bhatnagar, Y. V., Sharma, K., Mishra, C. (2017). VALUATION OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN SNOW LEOPARD LANDSCAPES OF ASIA.
Abstract: Snow leopards occur in Asia�s high mountain ranges of the Himalayas, Hindu Kush, Karakoram, Pamir, Tien Shan, Kunlun, Altai and Sayan. In all the 12 countries where they occur, snow leopards face intensifying threats to their survival, including habitat fragmentation and degradation due to increasing human populations, mining and developmental projects, poaching and illegal wildlife trade, weak law enforcement, inadequate involvement of local people in conservation efforts, and depletion of natural prey populations due to hunting by people and overgrazing by livestock.
To address the urgent needs of conservation of the snow leopard and the sustainable development of mountain peoples, the Governments of snow leopard range countries came together and agreed to invest efforts to conserve snow leopards in 23 large landscapes across its range under the Global Snow Leopard Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP). These landscapes where the snow leopards occur are inhabited by agro-pastoral and pastoral peoples who depend on well functioning ecosystems for ecosystem services, i.e., the benefits that humans derive from nature. Many threats that impact snow leopards also impact the well-being of people living in these landscapes. However, till date, there have been no studies that have attempted to quantify peoples� dependence on ecosystem services in snow leopard landscapes, or understand the impacts that alternate land-use decisions such as mining or infrastructure can have on the ecosystem services and on the local people who are dependent on them. In this report, we provide the first assessment of the economic value of provisioning ecosystem services � the material goods from ecosystems � used by local people in five study sites from four GSLEP landscapes: Spiti Valley and Changtang region of Ladakh in India�s Hemis-Spiti Landscape, Gurez Valley in the Himalayan Landscape of Pakistan, Tost Nature Reserve in the South Gobi Landscape of Mongolia, and the Sarychat region in the Central Tien Shan Landscape of Kyrgyzstan. In study sites that had both pastoral and agro-pastoral communities, we estimated ecosystem services separately for the two production systems.The average value (± SE) of ecosystem services per household amongst the agro-pastoral communities of Gurez Valley (4125 ± 190 USD/HH/yr) was 2.5 times the average local household income. In the agro-pastoral communities of Spiti Valley (3964 ± 334.8 USD/HH/yr) it was 3.6 times the average local household income, while it was 3.7 times amongst the agro-pastoral communities of Changtang (15083 ± 1656 USD/HH/yr). Amongst the pastoral communities, the value of ecosystem services used by households was several times higher than the average household income: it was 26.1 times amongst the pastoral communities of Changtang (79303 ± 9204 USD HH/yr), 38.7 times among communities in Tost Nature Reserve (150100 ± 13290 USD/HH/yr), and 7.4 times among the pastoral communities of Sarychat (25473 ± 5236 USD/HH/yr). It was lower, although still substantial at 0.6 times, for the downstream agro-pastoral communities living outside the landscape boundary in Sarychat (2094 ± 189 USD/HH/yr). Our work reveals substantially high levels of dependence of local communities on ecosystem services provided by snow leopard landscapes of Asia. The estimated economic value of provisioning ecosystem services used by human households in these landscapes ranged from 0.6 to up to 40 times the local annual household incomes. This economic support that nature provides people is critical for humanity but remains hidden and unaccounted for. Land use change decisions, especially those that are damaging for nature and biodiversity, must start accounting for the value of ecosystem services in their cost-benefit analyses. |
Kalashnikova, Y. A., Karnaukhov, A. S., Dubinin, M. Y., Poyarkov, A. D., Rozhnov, V. V. (2019). POTENTIAL HABITAT OF SNOW LEOPARD (PANTHERA UNCIA, FELINAE) IN SOUTH SIBERIA AND ADJACENT TERRITORIES BASED ON THE MAXIMUM ENTROPY DISTRIBUTION MODEL.98(3), 332–342.
Abstract: The snow leopard is an endangered large felid inhabiting highlands of 12 Asian countries. It is distributed
across vast territories and adequate modern methods are required for mapping its potential habitats. The goal of the present study is to create a model of snow leopard potential habitat within the northern part of its range in Russia (and adjacent territories of Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan). More than 5 years of observations (total number of presence points = 449), environmental variables and the maximum entropy distribution method (Maxent) are used. The resulting map demonstrates that a suitable habitat (probability of the animal�s presence between 0.5 and 1) of the northern population of snow leopard in Russia occupies 16500 km2 with a buffer of transient territories (probability between 0.25 and 0.49) covering 32800 km2. Most of a suitable habitat within the study area is associated with the Altai Mountains, Western Sayan Mountains, Sangilen Plateau, Tsagan-Shibetu and Shapshal. One third of the suitable habitat lies within areas of a varying protection status. The results of modeling are of importance both for scientists and conservation managers, as they allow for leopard occurrence to be predicted, supporting research on and the conservation of the species. |
Kohli, K., Sankaran, M., Suryawanshi, K. R., Mishra, C. (2014). A penny saved is a penny earned: lean season foraging strategy of an alpine ungulate. Animal Behaviour, (92), 93–100.
Abstract: Lean season foraging strategies are critical for the survival of species inhabiting highly seasonal environments
such as alpine regions. However, inferring foraging strategies is often difficult because of challenges associated with empirically estimating energetic costs and gains of foraging in the field. We generated qualitative predictions for the relationship between daily winter foraging time, body size and forage availability for three contrasting foraging strategies including time minimization, energy intake maximization and net energy maximization. Our model predicts that for animals employing a time minimization strategy, daily winter foraging time should not change with body size and should increase with a reduction in forage availability. For energy intake maximization, foraging time should not vary with either body size or forage availability. In contrast, for a net energy maximization strategy, foraging time should decrease with increase in body size and with a reduction in forage availability. We contrasted proportion of daily time spent foraging by bharal, Pseudois nayaur, a dimorphic grazer, across different body size classes in two high-altitude sites differing in forage availability. Our results indicate that bharal behave as net energy maximizers during winter. As predicted by the net energy maximization strategy, daily winter foraging time of bharal declined with increasing body size, and was lower in the site with low forage availability. Furthermore, as predicted by our model, foraging time declined as the winter season progressed. We did not find support for the time minimizing or energy intake maximizing strategies. Our qualitative model uses relative rather than absolute costs and gains of foraging which are often difficult to estimate in the field. It thus offers a simple way to make informed inferences regarding animal foraging strategies by contrasting estimates of daily foraging time across gradients of body size and forage availability. |
Ming, M., Baowen, H., Yu, M., & McCarthy, T. (2010). Survey on Bird Species and Analysis on Bird Diversity in the Central Kunlun Mountains in the Early Winter. Arid Zone Research, 27(2), 227–232. |
Ferretti, F., Lovari, S. (2016). Predation may counteract climatic change as a driving force for movements of mountain ungulates.
Abstract: Temperature variations are expected to influence altitudinal movements of mountain herbivores and, in
turn, those of their predators, but relevant information is scarce. We evaluated monthly relationships between temperature and altitude used by a large mountain-dwelling herbivore, the Himalayan tahr Hemitragus jemlahicus, and its main predator, the snow leopard Panthera uncia, in an area of central Himalaya for five consecutive years (2006–2010). In contrast to expectations, there was no significant direct relationship between altitude of tahr sightings and temperature. The mean altitude of tahr sightings decreased by c. 200 m throughout our study. As expected, snow leopard movements tracked those of tahr, although the core area of the snow leopard did not move downwards. Tahr remained the staple of the snow leopard diet: we suggest that the former did not move upwards in reaction to higher temperature to avoid encounters with the latter. Avoidance of competition with the larger common leopard Panthera pardus at lower altitudes could explain why snow leopards did not shift their core area downwards. Apparently, interspecific interactions (predation; competition) influenced movements of Himalayan tahr and snow leopards more than climatic variations. |
Karmacharya, D. B. (2011). Noninvasive genetic population survey of snow leopards (Panthera uncia) in Kangchenjunga conservation area, Shey Phoksundo National Park and surrounding buffer zones of Nepal. Bio Med Central, 4(516).
Abstract: Background
The endangered snow leopard is found throughout major mountain ranges of Central Asia, including the remote Himalayas. However, because of their elusive behavior, sparse distribution, and poor access to their habitat, there is a lack of reliable information on their population status and demography, particularly in Nepal. Therefore, we utilized noninvasive genetic techniques to conduct a preliminary snow leopard survey in two protected areas of Nepal. Results A total of 71 putative snow leopard scats were collected and analyzed from two different areas; Shey Phoksundo National Park (SPNP) in the west and Kangchanjunga Conservation Area (KCA) in the east. Nineteen (27%) scats were genetically identified as snow leopards, and 10 (53%) of these were successfully genotyped at 6 microsatellite loci. Two samples showed identical genotype profiles indicating a total of 9 individual snow leopards. Four individual snow leopards were identified in SPNP (1 male and 3 females) and five (2 males and 3 females) in KCA. Conclusions We were able to confirm the occurrence of snow leopards in both study areas and determine the minimum number present. This information can be used to design more in-depth population surveys that will enable estimation of snow leopard population abundance at these sites. |
Sharma, R. K., Bhatnagar, Y. V., Mishra, C. (201). Does livestock benefit or harm snow leopards? Biological Conservatio, (190), 8–13.
Abstract: Large carnivores commonly prey on livestock when their ranges overlap. Pastoralism is the dominant land use type across the distributional range of the endangered snow leopard Panthera uncia. Snow leop- ards are often killed in retaliation against livestock depredation. Whether livestock, by forming an alter- native prey, could potentially benefit snow leopards, or, whether livestock use of an area is detrimental to snow leopards is poorly understood. We examined snow leopard habitat use in a multiple use landscape that was comprised of sites varying in livestock abundance, wild prey abundance and human population size. We photographically sampled ten sites (average size 70 sq. km) using ten camera traps in each site, deployed for a period of 60 days. Snow leopard habitat use was computed as a Relative Use Index based on the total independent photographic captures and the number of snow leopard individuals captured at each site. We quantified livestock abundance, wild prey abundance, human population size and terrain ruggedness in each of the sites. Key variables influencing snow leopard habitat use were identified using Information Theory based model selection approach. Snow leopard habitat use was best explained by wild prey density, and showed a positive linear relationship with the abundance of wild ungulates. We found a hump-shaped relationship between snow leopard habitat use and livestock stocking density, with an initial increase in habitat use followed by a decline beyond a threshold of livestock density. Our results suggest that in the absence of direct persecution of snow leopards, livestock grazing and snow leopard habitat use are potentially compatible up to a certain threshold of livestock density, beyond which habitat use declines, presumably due to depressed wild ungulate abundance and associated anthropogenic disturbance.
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