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Oli, M. K., Taylor, I. R., & Rogers, M. E. (1994). Snow leopard Panthera unica predation of livestock: An assessment of local perceptions in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal. Biological Conservation, 68(1), 63–68.
Abstract: Public attitudes towards snow leopard Panthera uncia predation of domestic livestock were investigated by a questionnaire survey of four villages in snow leopard habitat within the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal. Most local inhabitants were subsistence farmers, many dependent upon yaks, oxen, horses and goats, with an average livestock holding of 26.6 animals per household. Reported losses to snow leopards averaged 0.6 and 0.7 animals per household in two years of study, constituting 2.6% of total stockholding but representing in monetary terms almost a quarter of the average annual Nepali national per capita income. Local people held strongly negative attitudes towards snow leopards and most suggested that total extermination of leopards was the only acceptable solution to the predation problem. Snow leopards were reported to be killed by herdsmen in defence of their livestock. The long-term success of snow leopard conservation programmes may depend upon the satisfactory resolution of the predation conflict. Some possible ways of reducing predation losses are also discussed.
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Oli, M. K., Taylor, K. R., & Rogers, M. E. (1994). Snow leopard Panthera uncia predation of livestock: An assessment of local perceptions in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal (Vol. 68).
Abstract: Public attitudes towards snow leopard Panthera uncia predation of domestic livestock were investigated by a questionnaire survey of four villages in snow leopard habitat within the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal Most local inhabitants were subsistence farmers, many dependent upon yaks, oxen, horses and goats, with an average livestock holding of 26.6 animals per household. Reported losses to snow leopards averaged 0.6 and O. 7 animals per household in two years of study, constituting 2.6% of total stockholding but representing in monetary terms almost a quarter of the average annual Nepali national per capita income. Local people hem strongly negative attitudes towards snow leopards and most suggested that total extermination of leopards was the only acceptable solution to the predation problem. Snow leopards were reported to be killed by herdsmen in defence of their livestock. The long-term success of snow leopard conservation programmes may depend upon the satisfactory resolution of the predation conflict. Some possible ways of reducing predation losses are also discussed.
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Schaller, G. B., Jurang, R., & Mingjiang, Q. (1988). Status of snow leopard (Panthera-uncia) in Qinghai-Province and Gansu Province-China. Biological Conservation, 45(3), 179–194.
Abstract: The status and distribution of the snow leopard Panthera uncia was investigated in two provinces of China. The cats occur over about 65,000km2 or 9% of the Qinghai Province, and in a few places along the western edge of Gansu Province. In many areas the animals have in recent decades been decimated or locally eradicated, as have their prey. Counts of wild ungulates in 9 mountain block, totalling 1375km2, known for abundant wildlife, had an average of 1.4-5.4 animals km2, principally blue sheep Psuedois nayaur, which together with marmot Marmota himalayana, represent the snow leopards main prey. Possibly 650 snow leopards survive in Qinghai but shooting and trapping of this legally protected animal and the hunting of blue sheep for local consumtion and export threaten their existence.
Keywords: status; population; China; Qinhai-province; Gansu-province; conservation; snow-leopard; Panthera-uncia; prey; ungulates; blue-sheep; marmot; snow leopard; blue; sheep; browse; qinhai province; qinhai; province; gansu province; gansu; panthera uncia; panthera; uncia; 860
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Forrest, J. L., Wikramanayake, E., Shrestha, R., Areendran, G., Gyeltshen, K., Maheshwari, A., Mazumdar, S., Naidoo, R., Thapa, G. J., Thapa, K. (2012). Conservation and climate change: Assessing the vulnerability of snow leopard habitat to treeline shift in the Himalaya. Biological Conservation, 150, 129–135.
Abstract: Climate change is likely to affect the persistence of large, space-requiring species through habitat shifts,
loss, and fragmentation. Anthropogenic land and resource use changes related to climate change can also impact the survival of wildlife. Thus, climate change has to be integrated into biodiversity conservation plans. We developed a hybrid approach to climate-adaptive conservation landscape planning for snow leopards in the Himalayan Mountains. We first mapped current snow leopard habitat using a mechanistic approach that incorporated field-based data, and then combined it with a climate impact model using a correlative approach. For the latter, we used statistical methods to test hypotheses about climatic drivers of treeline in the Himalaya and its potential response to climate change under three IPCC greenhouse gas emissions scenarios. We then assessed how change in treeline might affect the distribution of snow leopard habitat. Results indicate that about 30% of snow leopard habitat in the Himalaya may be lost due to a shifting treeline and consequent shrinking of the alpine zone, mostly along the southern edge of the range and in river valleys. But, a considerable amount of snow leopard habitat and linkages are likely to remain resilient to climate change, and these should be secured. This is because, as the area of snow leopard habitat fragments and shrinks, threats such as livestock grazing, retaliatory killing, and medicinal plant collection can intensify. We propose this approach for landscape conservation planning for other species with extensive spatial requirements that can also be umbrella species for overall biodiversity. 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved |
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Li, J., McCarthy, T. M., Wang, H., Weckworth, B. V., Shaller, G. B., Mishra, C., Lu, Z., Beissinger, S. R. (2016). Climate refugia of snow leopards in High Asia. Biological Conservation, (203), 188–196.
Abstract: Rapidwarming in High Asia is threatening its unique ecosystemand endemic species, especially the endangered
snow leopard (Panthera uncia). Snow leopards inhabit the alpine zone between snow line and tree line, which contracts and expands greatly during glacier-interglacial cycles. Here we assess impacts of climate change on global snow leopard habitat from the last glacial maximum (LGM; 21 kyr ago) to the late 21st century. Based on occurrence records of snow leopards collected across all snow leopard range countries from 1983 to 2015, we built a snow leopard habitat model using the maximum entropy algorithm (MaxEnt 3.3.3k). Then we projected this model into LGM, mid-Holocene and 2070. Analysis of snow leopard habitat map from LGM to 2070 indicates that three large patches of stable habitat have persisted from the LGM to present in the Altai, Qilian, and Tian Shan-Pamir-Hindu Kush-Karakoram mountain ranges, and are projected to persist through the late 21st century. These climatically suitable areas account for about 35% of the snow leopard's current extent, are large enough to support viable populations, and should function as refugia for snow leopards to survive through both cold and warm periods. Existence of these refugia is largely due to the unique mountain environment in High Asia, which maintains a relatively constant arid or semi-arid climate. However, habitat loss leading to fragmentation in the Himalaya and Hengduan Mountains, as well as increasing human activities, will present conservation challenges for snow leopards and other sympatric species. |
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Li, J., Weckworth, B. V., McCarthy, T. M., Liang, X., Liu, Y., Xing, R., Li, D., Zhang, Y., Xue, Y., Jackson, R., Xiao, L., Cheng, C., Li, S., Xu, F., Ma, M., Yang, X., Diao, K., Gao, Y., Song, D., Nowell, K., He, B., Li, Y., McCarthy, K., Paltsyn, M. Y., Sharma, K., Mishra, C., Schaller, G. B., Lu, Z., Beissinger, S. R. (2019). Defining priorities for global snow leopard conservation landscapes. Biological Conservation, 241(108387), 1–10.
Abstract: The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is an apex predator on the Tibetan Plateau and in the surrounding mountain ranges. It is listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN's Red List. The large home range and low population densities of this species mandate range-wide conservation prioritization. Two efforts for range-wide snow leopard conservation planning have been conducted based on expert opinion, but both were constrained by limited knowledge and the difficulty of evaluating complex processes, such as connectivity across large landscapes. Here, we compile > 6000 snow leopard occurrence records from across its range and corresponding environmental covariates to build a model of global snow leopard habitat suitability. Using spatial prioritization tools, we identi!ed seven large continuous habitat patches as global snow leopard Landscape Conservation Units (LCUs). Each LCU faces differing threat levels from poaching, anthropogenic development, and climate change. We identi!ed ten po- tential inter-LCU linkages, and centrality analysis indicated that Tianshan-Pamir-Hindu Kush-Karakorum, Altai, and the linkage between them play a critical role in maintaining the global snow leopard habitat connectivity.
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Ale, S., & Whelan, C. (2008). Reappraisal of the role of big, fierce predators.
Abstract: The suggestion in the early 20th century that top predators were a necessary component of ecosystems because they hold herbivore populations in check and promote biodiversity was at Wrst accepted and then largely rejected. With the advent of Evolutionary Ecology and a more full appreciation of direct and indirect effects of top predators, this role of top predators is again gaining acceptance. The previous views were predicated upon lethal effects of predators but largely overlooked their non-lethal effects. We suggest that
conceptual advances coupled with an increased use of experiments have convincingly demonstrated that prey experience costs that transcend the obvious cost of death. Prey species use adaptive behaviours to avoid predators, and these behaviours are not cost-free. With predation risk, prey species greatly restrict their use of available habitats and consumption of available food resources. Effects of top predators consequently cascade down to the trophic levels below them. Top predators, the biggies, are thus both the targets of and the means for conservation at the landscape scale. |
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Baral N., Stern, M., & Heinen, J. T. (2007). Integrated conservation and development project life cycles in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal: Is development overpowering conservation? Biodiversity Conservation, 16(10), 2903–2917.
Abstract: The merits of integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs), which aim to provide development incentives to citizens in return for conservation behaviors, have long been debated in the literature. Some of the most common critiques suggest that conservation activities tend to be strongly overpowered by development activities. We studied this assertion through participant observation and archival analysis of five Conservation Area Management Committees (CAMCs) in the Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA), Nepal. Committee activities were categorized as conservation activities (policy development and conservation implementation), development activities (infrastructure, health care, education, economic development, and sanitation), or activities related to institutional strengthening (administrative development and capacity building activities). Greater longevity of each ICDP was associated with greater conservation activity in relation to development activities. Project life cycles progressed from a focus on development activities in their early stages, through a transitional period of institutional strengthening, and toward a longer-term focus that roughly balanced conservation and development activities. Results suggest that the ICDP concept, as practiced in ACA, has been successful at building capacity for and interest in conservation amongst local communities. However, success has come over a period of nearly a decade, suggesting that prior conclusions about ICDP failures may have been based on unrealistic expectations of the time needed to influence behavioral changes in target populations.
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Oberosler, V., Tenan, S., Groff, C., Krofel, M., Augugliaro, C., Munkhtsog, B., Rovero, F. (2021). First spatially‐explicit density estimate for a snow leopard population in the Altai Mountains. Biodiversity and Conservation, , 15.
Abstract: The snow leopard Panthera uncia is an elusive and globally-threatened apex predator occurring in the mountain ranges of central Asia. As with other large carnivores, gaps in data on its distribution and abundance still persist. Moreover, available density estimates are often based on inadequate sampling designs or analytical approaches. Here, we used camera trapping across a vast mountainous area (area of the sampling frame 850 km2; analysed habitat extent 2600 km2) and spatially-explicit capture-recapture (SECR) models to provide, to our knowledge, the first robust snow leopard population density estimate for the Altai Mountains. This region is considered one of the most important conservation areas for snow leopards, representing a vast portion of suitable habitat and a key ecological corridor. We also provide estimates of the scale parameter (σ) that reflects ranging behaviour (activity range) and baseline encounter probability, and investigated potential drivers of density and related parameters by assessing their associations with anthropogenic and environmental factors. Sampling yielded 9729 images of snow leopards corresponding to 224 independent detections that belonged to a minimum of 23 identified adult individuals. SECR analysis resulted in an overall density of 1.31 individuals/100 km2 (1.15%–1.50 95% CI), which was positively correlated with terrain slope. This estimate falls within the mid-values of the range of density estimates for the species globally. We estimated significantly different activity range size for females and males (79 and 329 km2, respectively). Base- line encounter probability was negatively associated with anthropogenic activity. Our study contributes to on-going efforts to produce robust global estimates of population abundance for this top carnivore.
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Ming, M. (2001). The Problems About Conservation of Wildlife Animals In Xinjiang. Arid Land Geography, 24(1), 47–51.
Abstract: As an important part of the ecosystem in the world, the wild are highly sensitive to impel the public to pay an increasing attention to the vertebrates and their habitats. The region from Xinjiang to Central Asian countries and from north China to Mongolia, explored less by zoologists. The region is mainly consisted of deserts and high mountain ranges many lakes and rivers that provide the suitable habitats for wildlife. These are actually unknown. Conservation in the modern sense is a very important part of development, especially in the Western Development of China. This paper deals with the species diversity and vertebrates' conservation in Xinjiang. Since 1980, over 20 Iocal nature reserves and 4 nationaI nature reserves have been established in Xinjiang. There are about 700 vertebrate species (in 5 classesœª37 ordersœr97 familiesœª196 genera) in Xinjiang. These cover about 134 species of mammalsœª392® 430 species of birdsœr40® 45 species of reptilesœª6® 7 species of amphibians and 93® 120 fishes. With the rapid economic development, some protected areas exist only in name. The areas are not only havens for wild species, but also maintain ecological benefits. Xinjiang is a very special region in China. The wild animals are different from those in other provinces along the east coast and in the interior. There are many questions about the conservation of wild animals in Xinjiang, e.g. the threatened species distinguishing, distribution and management, etc. So the paper is for reference only to the Great Development of Western China.
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