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| Author | Atzeni, L., Wang, J., Riordan, P., Shi, K., Cushman, S. A. | ||||
| Title | Landscape resistance to gene flow in a snow leopard population from Qilianshan National Park, Gansu, China | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2023 | Publication | Landscape Ecology | Abbreviated Journal | |
| Volume | Issue | Pages | |||
| Keywords | Landscape genetics · MLPE · Gene flow · Genetic distance · Isolation by distance · Isolation by resistance · Landscape resistance · Snow leopard · Principal component analysis | ||||
| Abstract | Context: The accurate estimation of landscape resistance to movement is important for ecological understanding and conservation applications. Rigorous estimation of resistance requires validation and optimization. One approach uses genetic data for the optimization or validation of resistance models. Objectives We used a genetic dataset of snow leopards from China to evaluate how landscape genetics resistance models varied across genetic distances and spatial scales of analysis. We evaluated whether landscape genetics models were superior to models of resistance derived from habitat suitability or isolation-by-distance. Methods: We regressed genetically optimized, habitat-based, and isolation-by-distance hypotheses against genetic distances using mixed effect models. We explored all subset combinations of genetically optimized variables to find the most supported resistance scenario for each genetic distance. Results: Genetically optimized models always out-performed habitat-based and isolation-by-distance hypotheses. The choice of genetic distances influenced the apparent influence of variables, their spatial scales and their functional response shapes, producing divergent resistance scenarios. Gene flow in snow leopards was largely facilitated by areas of intermediate ruggedness at intermediate elevations corresponding to small-to-large valleys within and between the mountain ranges. Conclusions: This study highlights that landscape genetics models provide superior estimation of functional dispersal than habitat surrogates and suggests that optimization of genetic distance should be included as an optimization routine in landscape genetics, along with variables, scales, effect size and functional response shape. Furthermore, our study provides new insights on the ecological conditions that promote gene flow in snow leopards, which expands ecological knowledge, and we hope will improve conservation planning. |
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | SLN @ rakhee @ | Serial  |
1720 | ||
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| Author | Changxi, X., Bai, D., Lambert, J. P., Li, Y., Cering, L., Gong, Z., Riordan, P., Shi, K. | ||||
| Title | How Snow Leopards Share the Same Landscape with Tibetan Agro-pastoral Communities in the Chinese Himalayas | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2022 | Publication | Journal of Resources and Ecology | Abbreviated Journal | |
| Volume | 13 | Issue | 3 | Pages | 483-500 |
| Keywords | habitat use; landscape ecology; occupancy model; Qomolangma; Panthera uncia | ||||
| Abstract | The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) inhabits a human-altered alpine landscape and is often tolerated by residents in regions where the dominant religion is Tibetan Buddhism, including in Qomolangma NNR on the northern side of the Chinese Himalayas. Despite these positive attitudes, many decades of rapid economic development and population growth can cause increasing disturbance to the snow leopards, altering their habitat use patterns and ultimately impacting their conservation. We adopted a dynamic landscape ecology perspective and used multi-scale technique and occupancy model to better understand snow leopard habitat use and coexistence with humans in an 825 km2 communal landscape. We ranked eight hypothetical models containing potential natural and anthropogenic drivers of habitat use and compared them between summer and winter seasons within a year. HABITAT was the optimal model in winter, whereas ANTHROPOGENIC INFLUENCE was the top ranking in summer (AICcw≤2). Overall, model performance was better in the winter than in the summer, suggesting that perhaps some latent summer covariates were not measured. Among the individual variables, terrain ruggedness strongly affected snow leopard habitat use in the winter, but not in the summer. Univariate modeling suggested snow leopards prefer to use rugged land in winter with a broad scale (4000 m focal radius) but with a lesser scale in summer (30 m); Snow leopards preferred habitat with a slope of 22° at a scale of 1000 m throughout both seasons, which is possibly correlated with prey occurrence. Furthermore, all covariates mentioned above showed inextricable ties with human activities (presence of settlements and grazing intensity). Our findings show that multiple sources of anthropogenic activity have complex connections with snow leopard habitat use, even under low human density when anthropogenic activities are sparsely distributed across a vast landscape. This study is also valuable for habitat use research in the future, especially regarding covariate selection for finite sample sizes in inaccessible terrain. | ||||
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | SLN @ rakhee @ | Serial |
1698 | ||
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| Author | Xiao, C., Bai, D., Lambert, J. P., Li, Y., Cering, L., Gong, Z., Riordan, P., Shi, K. | ||||
| Title | How Snow Leopards Share the Same Landscape with Tibetan Agro-pastoral Communities in the Chinese Himalayas | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2022 | Publication | Journal of Resources and Ecology | Abbreviated Journal | |
| Volume | 13 | Issue | 3 | Pages | 483-500 |
| Keywords | habitat use; landscape ecology; occupancy model; Qomolangma; Panthera uncia | ||||
| Abstract | The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) inhabits a human-altered alpine landscape and is often tolerated by residents in regions where the dominant religion is Tibetan Buddhism, including in Qomolangma NNR on the northern side of the Chinese Himalayas. Despite these positive attitudes, many decades of rapid economic development and population growth can cause increasing disturbance to the snow leopards, altering their habitat use patterns and ultimately impacting their conservation. We adopted a dynamic landscape ecology perspective and used multi-scale technique and occupancy model to better understand snow leopard habitat use and coexistence with humans in an 825 km2 communal landscape. We ranked eight hypothetical models containing potential natural and anthropogenic drivers of habitat use and compared them between summer and winter seasons within a year. HABITAT was the optimal model in winter, whereas ANTHROPOGENIC INFLUENCE was the top ranking in summer (AICcw≤2). Overall, model performance was better in the winter than in the summer, suggesting that perhaps some latent summer covariates were not measured. Among the individual variables, terrain ruggedness strongly affected snow leopard habitat use in the winter, but not in the summer. Univariate modeling suggested snow leopards prefer to use rugged land in winter with a broad scale (4000 m focal radius) but with a lesser scale in summer (30 m); Snow leopards preferred habitat with a slope of 22° at a scale of 1000 m throughout both seasons, which is possibly correlated with prey occurrence. Furthermore, all covariates mentioned above showed inextricable ties with human activities (presence of settlements and grazing intensity). Our findings show that multiple sources of anthropogenic activity have complex connections with snow leopard habitat use, even under low human density when anthropogenic activities are sparsely distributed across a vast landscape. This study is also valuable for habitat use research in the future, especially regarding covariate selection for finite sample sizes in inaccessible terrain. | ||||
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | SLN @ rakhee @ | Serial |
1688 | ||
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| Author | Atzeni, L., Cushman, S. A., Wang, J., Riordan, P., Shi, K., Bauman, D. | ||||
| Title | Evidence of spatial genetic structure in a snow leopard population from Gansu, China | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2021 | Publication | Heredity | Abbreviated Journal | |
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| Abstract | Understanding the spatial structure of genetic diversity provides insights into a populations’ genetic status and enables assessment of its capacity to counteract the effects of genetic drift. Such knowledge is particularly scarce for the snow leopard, a conservation flagship species of Central Asia mountains. Focusing on a snow leopard population in the Qilian mountains of Gansu Province, China, we characterised the spatial genetic patterns by incorporating spatially explicit indices of diversity and multivariate analyses, based on different inertia levels of Principal Component Analysis (PCA). We compared two datasets differing in the number of loci and individuals. We found that genetic patterns were significantly spatially structured and were characterised by a broad geographical division coupled with a fine-scale cline of differentiation. Genetic admixture was detected in two adjoining core areas characterised by higher effective population size and allelic diversity, compared to peripheral localities. The power to detect significant spatial relationships depended primarily on the number of loci, and secondarily on the number of PCA axes. Spatial patterns and indices of diversity highlighted the cryptic structure of snow leopard genetic diversity, likely driven by its ability to disperse over large distances. In combination, the species’ low allelic richness and large dispersal ability result in weak genetic differentiation related to major geographical features and isolation by distance. This study illustrates how cryptic genetic patterns can be investigated and analysed at a fine spatial scale, providing insights into the spatially variable isolation effects of both geographic distance and landscape resistance. | ||||
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | SLN @ rakhee @ | Serial |
1661 | ||
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| Author | Atzeni, L., Cushman, S. A., Bai, D., Wang, J., Chen, P., Shi, K., Riordan, P. | ||||
| Title | Meta-replication, sampling bias, and multi-scale model selection: A case study on snow leopard (Panthera uncia) in western China. | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2020 | Publication | Ecology and Evolution | Abbreviated Journal | |
| Volume | Issue | Pages | 1-27 | ||
| Keywords | MaxEnt, meta-replication, multi-scale, Panthera uncia, sampling bias, scale selection, snow leopard, species distribution model | ||||
| Abstract | Replicated multiple scale species distribution models (SDMs) have become increasingly important to identify the correct variables determining species distribution and their influences on ecological responses. This study explores multi-scale habitat relationships of the snow leopard (Panthera uncia) in two study areas on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau of western China. Our primary objectives were to evaluate the degree to which snow leopard habitat relationships, expressed by predictors, scales of response, and magnitude of effects, were consistent across study areas or locally landcape-specific. We coupled univariate scale optimization and the maximum entropy algorithm to produce multivariate SDMs, inferring the relative suitability for the species by ensembling top performing models. We optimized the SDMs based on average omission rate across the top models and ensembles’ overlap with a simulated reference model. Comparison of SDMs in the two study areas highlighted landscape-specific responses to limiting factors. These were dependent on the effects of the hydrological network, anthropogenic features, topographic complexity, and the heterogeneity of the landcover patch mosaic. Overall, even accounting for specific local differences, we found general landscape attributes associated with snow leopard ecological requirements, consisting of a positive association with uplands and ridges, aggregated low-contrast landscapes, and large extents of grassy and herbaceous vegetation. As a means to evaluate the performance of two bias correction methods, we explored their effects on three datasets showing a range of bias intensities. The performance of corrections depends on the bias intensity; however, density kernels offered a reliable correction strategy under all circumstances. This study reveals the multi-scale response of snow leopards to environmental attributes and confirms the role of meta-replicated study designs for the identification of spatially varying limiting factors. Furthermore, this study makes important contributions to the ongoing discussion about the best approaches for sampling bias correction. |
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Serial |
1616 | |||
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| Author | Guoliang, P., Alexander, J. S., Riordan, P., Shi, K., Kederhan, Yang, H | ||||
| Title | Detection of a snow leopard population in northern Bortala, Xinjiang, China | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2016 | Publication | Cat News | Abbreviated Journal | |
| Volume | Issue | 63 | Pages | ||
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| Abstract | We substantiate the presence of snow leopards Panthera uncia using camera traps within the Dzungarian Alatau range in Bortala Mongolia Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang Province, China. A total of 13 camera trap stations were set up in 2012 and a total of 14 camera trap stations in 2013 within an area of 192 km2. A total of 11-15 individual adult snow leopards and two sub adults were identified from photo captures of sufficient quality. A range of human activities were noted within and surrounding the survey area, including livestock herding and mining. We recommend more large scale and intensive camera trap surveys to further assess the population status of the snow leopard within this area |
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | SLN @ rakhee @ | Serial |
1443 | ||
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| Author | Alexander, J. S., Zhang, C., Shi, K., Riordan, P. | ||||
| Title | A spotlight on snow leopard conservation in China | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2016 | Publication | Integrative Zoology | Abbreviated Journal | |
| Volume | Issue | 11 | Pages | ||
| Keywords | China, conservation, Panthera uncia, research prioritization | ||||
| Abstract | China holds the greatest proportion of the snow leopard’s (Panthera uncia) global range and is central to their conservation. The country is also undergoing unprecedented economic growth, which increases both the threats to the snow leopard and the opportunities for its conservation. In this paper we aim to review published literature (from 1950 to 2014) in English and Mandarin on snow leopard ecology and conservation in China in order to identify thematic and geographic research gaps and propose research priorities. We first retrieved all publish items that considered snow leopards in China (n = 106). We extracted from these papers 274 reports of snow leopard presence in China. We then reviewed a subset of papers (n = 33) of this literature, which specifically focused on snow leopard ecology and conservation within China. We introduced a thematic framework that allows a structured and comprehensive assessment of findings. This framework recognizes 4 critical and interrelated topics underpinning snow leopard ecology and conservation: habitat (distribution and protected area coverage); prey (distribution and abundance, predator–prey relationships); human interactions (hunting and trade, livestock interactions and conflicts); and the underlying policy context. Significant gains in knowledge as well as research gaps and priorities are discussed with reference to our framework. The modest quantity and limited scope of published research on the snow leopard in China calls for a continued and intensified effort to inform and support national conservation policies. | ||||
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | SLN @ rakhee @ | Serial |
1442 | ||
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| Author | Alexander, J., S., Gopalaswamy, A., M., Shi, K., Hughes, J., Riordan, P. | ||||
| Title | Patterns of Snow Leopard Site Use in an Increasingly Human-Dominated Landscape | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2016 | Publication | PLoS ONE | Abbreviated Journal | |
| Volume | Issue | Pages | 1-15 | ||
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| Abstract | Human population growth and concomitant increases in demand for natural resources pose threats to many wildlife populations. The landscapes used by the endangered snow leopard (Panthera uncia) and their prey is increasingly subject to major changes in land use. We aimed to assess the influence of 1) key human activities, as indicated by the presence of mining and livestock herding, and 2) the presence of a key prey species, the blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur), on probability of snow leopard site use across the landscape. In Gansu Province, China, we conducted sign surveys in 49 grid cells, each of 16 km2 in size, within a larger area of 3392 km2. We analysed the data using likelihood-based habitat occupancy models that explicitly account for imperfect detection and spatial auto-correlation between survey transect segments. The model-averaged estimate of snow leopard occupancy was high [0.75 (SE 0.10)], but only marginally higher than the naïve estimate (0.67). Snow leop- ard segment-level probability of detection, given occupancy on a 500 m spatial replicate, was also high [0.68 (SE 0.08)]. Prey presence was the main determinant of snow leopard site use, while human disturbances, in the form of mining and herding, had low predictive power. These findings suggest that snow leopards continue to use areas very close to such disturbances, as long as there is sufficient prey. Improved knowledge about the effect of human activity on large carnivores, which require large areas and intact prey populations, is urgently needed for conservation planning at the local and global levels. We highlight a number of methodological considerations that should guide the design of such research. | ||||
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| Call Number | SLN @ rakhee @ | Serial |
1440 | ||
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| Author | Alexander, S., A., Zhang, C., Shi, K., Riordan, P. | ||||
| Title | A granular view of a snow leopard population using camera traps in Central China | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2016 | Publication | Biological Conservation | Abbreviated Journal | |
| Volume | Issue | 197 | Pages | 27-31 | |
| Keywords | Snow leopard Camera trap China Density Monitoring | ||||
| Abstract | Successful conservation of the endangered snow leopard (Panthera uncia) relies on the effectiveness of monitoring programmes. We present the results of a 19-month camera trap survey effort, conducted as part of a longterm study of the snow leopard population in Qilianshan National Nature Reserve of Gansu Province, China. Weassessed the minimumnumber of individual snowleopards and population density across different sampling periods using spatial capture–recapture methods. Between 2013–2014, we deployed 34 camera traps across an area of 375 km2, investing a total of 7133 trap-days effort. Weidentified a total number of 17–19 unique individuals from photographs (10–12 adults, five sub-adults and two cubs). The total number of individuals identified and estimated density varied across sampling periods, between 10–15 individuals and 1.46–3.29 snow leopards per 100 km2 respectively. We demonstrate that snow leopard surveys of limited scale and conducted over short sampling periods only present partial views of a dynamic and transient system.We also underline the challenges in achieving a sufficient sample size of captures and recaptures to assess trends in snow leopard population size and/or density for policy and conservation decision-making |
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| Call Number | SLN @ rakhee @ | Serial |
1436 | ||
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| Author | Alexander, J. S., Cusack, J. J., Pengju, C, Kun, S., Riordan, P. | ||||
| Title | Conservation of snow leopards: spill-over benefits for other carnivores? | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2015 | Publication | Oryx | Abbreviated Journal | |
| Volume | Issue | Fauna & Flora International | Pages | 1-5 | |
| Keywords | China, conservation, Eurasian lynx, grey wolf, red fox, snow leopard | ||||
| Abstract | In high-altitude settings of Central Asia the Endangered snow leopard Panthera uncia has been recognized as a potential umbrella species. As a first step in assessing the potential benefits of snow leopard conservation for other carnivores, we sought a better understanding of the presence of other carnivores in areas occupied by snow leopards in China’s Qilianshan National Nature Reserve. We used camera-trap and sign surveys to examine whether other carnivores were using the same travel routes as snow leopards at two spatial scales. We also considered temporal interactions between species. Our results confirm that other carnivores, including the red fox Vulpes vulpes, grey wolf Canis lupus, Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx and dhole Cuon alpinus, occur along snow leopard travel routes, albeit with low detection rates. Even at the smaller scale of our camera trap survey all five carnivores (snow leopard, lynx, wolf, red fox and dhole) were observed. Kernel density estimates suggested a high degree of temporal overlap between the snow leopard and the fox, and the snow leopard and the lynx, as indicated by high overlap coefficient estimates. There is an opportunity to consider protective measures at the local scale that would benefit various species simultaneously. However, it should also be recognized that snow leopard conservation efforts could exacerbate human–wildlife conflicts through their protective effect on other carnivore species. |
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | SLN @ rakhee @ | Serial |
1434 | ||
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