Abstract: Book Title: Rangeland Stewardship in Central Asia: Balancing Improved Livelihoods, Biodiversity Conservation and Land Protection, 2012. Edited by Victor Squires. Published Springer Science+Business Media. 458 p. 91 illus., 61 in color.
Addressing human–wildlife conflict is an important requisite to managing
rangelands for livestock and wildlife. Despite high altitudes, aridity, and relatively
low primary productivity, the rangelands of Central Asia support a rich and diverse
biodiversity—including the endangered snow leopard that many herders perceive
as a predator to be eliminated. Conserving this and other wildlife species requires
carefully crafted interventions aimed at curbing depredation losses and/or reducing
competition for forage, along with offering locally sustainable, environmentally
friendly income-generating activities for supplementing pastoral household livelihoods.
This is best achieved through a combination of incentives designed to foster
sound rangeland and wildlife stewardship, along penalties or disincentives targeting
herders who violate mutually agreed rules and regulations (including grazing norms
and wildlife disturbance or poaching).
When working toward the harmonious coexistence of people and wildlife,
conservationists and rangeland practitioners need to seek the cooperation and
build goodwill among herders and other stakeholders, including local government
and private industry (especially the livestock production, mining, and tourism
sectors).

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.

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.

Abstract: Population density estimation is integral to the effective conservation and management of wildlife. The snow leopard Panthera uncia is categorized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and reliable information on its density is a prerequisite for its conservation and management. Little is known about the status of the snow leopard in the central and eastern Qilian Mountains, China. To address this, we estimated the population density of the snow leopard using a spatially explicit capture–recapture model based on camera trapping in Machang in the central and eastern Qilian Mountains during January–March 2019. We set up
40 camera traps and recorded 84 separate snow leopard captures over 3,024 trap-days. We identified 18 individual snow leopards and estimated their density to be 2.26/100 km. Our study provides baseline information on the snow leopard and the first population estimate for the species in the central and eastern Qilian Mountains.