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Author 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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  Call Number Serial 1612  
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Author 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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  Call Number Serial 1613  
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Author Hameed, S., Din, J. U., Ali, H., Kabir, M., Younas, M., Rehman, E. U., Bari, F., Hao, W., Bischof, R., Nawaz, M. A. url 
  Title Identifying priority landscapes for conservation of snow leopards in Pakistan Type Journal Article
  Year 2020 Publication Plos One Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume Issue Pages 1-20  
  Keywords  
  Abstract Pakistan’s total estimated snow leopard habitat is about

80,000 km2 of which about half is considered prime habitat. However,

this preliminary demarcation was not always in close agreement with the

actual distribution the discrepancy may be huge at the local and

regional level. Recent technological developments like camera trapping

and molecular genetics allow for collecting reliable presence records

that could be used to construct realistic species distribution based on

empirical data and advanced mathematical approaches like MaxEnt. The

current study followed this approach to construct an accurate

distribution of the species in Pakistan. Moreover, movement corridors,

among different landscapes, were also identified through circuit theory.

The probability of habitat suitability, generated from 98 presence

points and 11 environmental variables, scored the snow leopard’s assumed

range in Pakistan, from 0 to 0.97. A large portion of the known range

represented low-quality habitat, including areas in lower Chitral, Swat,

Astore, and Kashmir. Conversely, Khunjerab, Misgar, Chapursan, Qurumber,

Broghil, and Central Karakoram represented high-quality habitats.

Variables with higher contributions in the MaxEnt model were

precipitation during the driest month (34%), annual mean temperature

(19.5%), mean diurnal range of temperature (9.8%), annual precipitation

(9.4%), and river density (9.2). The model was validated through

receiver operating characteristic (ROC) plots and defined thresholds.

The average test AUC in Maxent for the replicate runs was 0.933 while

the value of AUC by ROC curve calculated at 0.15 threshold was 1.00.

These validation tests suggested a good model fit and strong predictive

power. The connectivity analysis revealed that the population in the

Hindukush landscape appears to be more connected with the population in

Afghani- stan as compared to other populations in Pakistan. Similarly,

the Pamir-Karakoram population is better connected with China and

Tajikistan, while the Himalayan population was connected with the

population in India. Based on our findings we propose three model

landscapes to be considered under the Global Snow Leopard Ecosystem

Protection Program (GSLEP) agenda as regional priority areas, to

safeguard the future of the snow leopard in Pakistan and the region.

These landscapes fall within mountain ranges of the Himalaya, Hindu Kush

and Karakoram-Pamir, respectively. We also identified gaps in the

existing protected areas network and suggest new protected areas in

Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan to protect critical habitats of snow

leopard in Pakistan.
 
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 1617  
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Author Farrington, J., Tsering, D. url 
  Title Snow leopard distribution in the Chang Tang region of Tibet, China Type Journal Article
  Year 2020 Publication Global Ecology and Conservation Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume 23 Issue Pages  
  Keywords  
  Abstract In 2006 and 2007, the authors conducted human-wildlife conflict surveys in the Tibet Autonomous Region’s (TAR) Shainza, Nyima, and Tsonyi Counties, located in the TAR’s remote Chang Tang region. At this time, prior knowledge of the snow leopard in this vast 700,000 km2 region was limited to just eight firsthand snow leopard sign and conflict location records and 15 secondhand records. These surveys revealed a previously undocumented and growing problem of human-snow leopard conflict. The 2007 survey also yielded 39 new snow leopard conflict incident locations and 24 new snow leopard sign locations. Next, snow leopard telephone interviews and mapping exercises were conducted with Tibet Forestry Bureau staff that yielded an additional 63 and 144 new snow leopard conflict and sighting location records, respectively. These 270 new snow leopard location records, together with 39 records collected by other observers from 1988 to 2009, were compiled into a snow leopard distribution map for the Chang Tang. This effort greatly expanded knowledge of the snow leopard’s distribution in this region which remains one of the least understood of the snow leopard’s key range areas. New knowledge gained on snow leopard distribution in the Chang Tang through this exercise will help identify human-snow leopard conflict hot spots and inform design of human-snow leopard conflict mitigation and conservation strategies for northwest Tibet. Nevertheless, extensive additional field verification work will be required to definitively delineate snow leopard distribution in the Chang Tang. Importantly, since 2006, a number of major transportation infrastructure projects have made the Chang Tang more accessible, including paving of highways, new railroads, and new airports. This has led to a greatly increased number of tourists visiting western Tibet, particularly Mt. Kailash and Lake Manasarovar. At the same time, large areas of the Chang Tang have been fenced for livestock pastures as part of government initiatives to allocate pasturelands to individual families. All three of these developments have a large potential to cause disturbance to snow leopards and their prey species, including by hindering their movements and degrading their habitat. Therefore, future conservation measures in the Chang Tang will need to insure that development activities and the growing number of visitors to the Chang Tang do not adversely affect the distribution of snow leopards and their prey species or directly degrade their habitat.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number SLN @ rakhee @ Serial 1601  
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Author Esson, C. , Skerratt, L. F. , Berger, L. , Malmsten, J., Strand, T. , Lundkvist, A., Järhult, J. D., Michaux, J., Mijiddorj, T. N., , Bayrakçısmith, R., Mishra, C., Johansson, O url 
  Title Health and zoonotic Infections of snow leopards Panthera unica in the South Gobi desert of Mongolia Type Journal Article
  Year 2019 Publication Infection Ecology & Epidemiology Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume 9 Issue 1604063 Pages 1-11  
  Keywords Snow leopard; zoonoses; conservation; one health; Mongolia; ticks  
  Abstract Background: Snow leopards, Panthera uncia, are a threatened apex predator, scattered across the mountains of Central and South Asia. Disease threats to wild snow leopards have not been investigated.

Methods and Results: Between 2008 and 2015, twenty snow leopards in the South Gobi desert of Mongolia were captured and immobilised for health screening and radio-collaring. Blood samples and external parasites were collected for pathogen analyses using enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), microscopic agglutination test (MAT), and next- generation sequencing (NGS) techniques. The animals showed no clinical signs of disease, however, serum antibodies to significant zoonotic pathogens were detected. These patho- gens included, Coxiella burnetii, (25% prevalence), Leptospira spp., (20%), and Toxoplasma gondii (20%). Ticks collected from snow leopards contained potentially zoonotic bacteria from the genera Bacillus, Bacteroides, Campylobacter, Coxiella, Rickettsia, Staphylococcus and Streptococcus.

Conclusions: The zoonotic pathogens identified in this study, in the short-term did not appear to cause illness in the snow leopards, but have caused illness in other wild felids. Therefore, surveillance for pathogens should be implemented to monitor for potential longer- term disease impacts on this snow leopard population.
 
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 1625  
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Author Durbach, I., Borchers, D., Sutherland, C., Sharma, K. url 
  Title Fast, flexible alternatives to regular grid designs for spatial capture–recapture. Type Research Article
  Year 2020 Publication Methods in Ecology and Evolution Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume Issue Pages 1-13  
  Keywords camera trap, population ecology,sampling, spatial capture-recapture, surveys  
  Abstract Spatial capture–recapture (SCR) methods use the location of

detectors (camera traps, hair snares and live-capture traps) and the

locations at which animals were detected (their spatial capture

histories) to estimate animal density. Despite the often large expense

and effort involved in placing detectors in a landscape, there has been

relatively little work on how detectors should be located. A natural

criterion is to place traps so as to maximize the precision of density

estimators, but the lack of a closed-form expression for precision has

made optimizing this criterion computationally demanding. 2. Recent

results by Efford and Boulanger (2019) show that precision can be well

approximated by a function of the expected number of detected

individuals and expected number of recapture events, both of which can

be evaluated at low computational cost. We use these results to develop

a method for obtaining survey designs that optimize this approximate

precision for SCR studies using count or binary proximity detectors, or

multi-catch traps. 3. We show how the basic design protocol can be

extended to incorporate spatially varying distributions of activity

centres and animal detectability. We illustrate our approach by

simulating from a camera trap study of snow leopards in Mongolia and

comparing estimates from our designs to those generated by regular or

optimized grid designs. Optimizing detector placement increased the

number of detected individuals and recaptures, but this did not always

lead to more precise density estimators due to less precise estimation

of the effective sampling area. In most cases, the precision of density

estimators was comparable to that obtained with grid designs, with

improvement in some scenarios where approximate CV(¬D) < 20% and density

varied spatially. 4. Designs generated using our approach are

transparent and statistically grounded. They can be produced for survey

regions of any shape, adapt to known information about animal density

and detectability, and are potentially easier and less costly to

implement. We recommend their use as good, flexible candidate designs

for SCR surveys when reasonable knowledge of model parameters exists. We

provide software for researchers to construct their own designs, in the

form of updates to design functions in the r package oSCR.
 
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 1618  
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Author Din, J. U., Nawaz, M. A., Norma-Rashid, Y., Ahmad, F., Hussain, K., Ali, H., Adli, D., S., H. url 
  Title Ecosystem Services in a Snow Leopard Landscape: A Comparative Analysis of Two High-elevation National Parks in the Karakoram-Pamir Type Journal Article
  Year 2020 Publication Bio One Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume Issue Pages 11-19  
  Keywords ecosystem services; economic value; Karakoram; Pamir; Khunjerab; national park; Qurumbar  
  Abstract The high-elevation mountain ecosystems in the Karakoram and Pamir mountain ranges encompass enchanting landscapes, harbor unique biodiversity, and are home to many indigenous pastoral societies that rely onecosystem services for their survival. However, our understanding of the value of ecosystem services to a household economy is limited. This information is essential in devising sustainable development strategies and thus merits consideration. In this preliminary study, we attempted to assess and compare the value of selected ecosystem Khunjerab and Qurumbar National Parks (KNP and QNP) in the services of the KNP and QNP) in the Karakoram–Pamir in northern Pakistan using market-based and value transfer methods. Our results indicated that the economic benefits derived from the 2 high-elevation protected areas were US$ 4.6 million (QNP) and US$ 3.8 million (KNP) per year, translating into US$ 5955 and US$ 8912 per household per year, respectively. The monetary benefits from provisioning services constituted about 93% in QNP and 48% in KNP, which vividly highlights the prominence of the economic benefits generated from the protected areas for the welfare of disadvantaged communities. Together with the regulatory and cultural services valued

in this study, the perceived economic impact per household per year was 10–15 times higher than the mean household income per year. Considering the limited livelihood means and escalating poverty experienced by buffer zone communities, these values are substantial. We anticipate that communities’ dependency on resources will contribute to increased

degradation of ecosystems. We propose reducing communities’ dependency on natural resources by promoting sustainable alternative livelihood options and recognizing ecosystem services in cost–benefit analyses when formulating future policies.
 
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 1631  
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Author Chetri, M., Odden, M., Devineau, O., McCarthy, T., Wegge, P. url 
  Title Multiple factors influence local perceptions of snow leopards and Himalayan wolves in the central Himalayas, Nepal. Type Journal Article
  Year 2020 Publication PeerJ Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume Issue Pages 1-18  
  Keywords Panthera uncia, Canis lupus chanco, Perceptions, Large carnivores, Trans-Himalayas  
  Abstract An understanding of local perceptions of carnivores is

important for conservation and management planning. In the central

Himalayas, Nepal, we interviewed 428 individuals from 85 settlements

using a semi-structured questionnaire to quantitatively assess local

perceptions and tolerance of snow leopards and wolves. We used

generalized linear mixed effect models to assess influential factors,

and found that tolerance of snow leopards was much higher than of

wolves. Interestingly, having experienced livestock losses had a minor

impact on perceptions of the carnivores. Occupation of the respondents

had a strong effect on perceptions of snow leopards but not of wolves.

Literacy and age had weak impacts on snow leopard perceptions, but the

interaction among these terms showed a marked effect, that is, being

illiterate had a more marked negative impact among older respondents.

Among the various factors affecting perceptions of wolves, numbers of

livestock owned and gender were the most important predictors. People

with larger livestock herds were more negative towards wolves. In terms

of gender, males were more positive to wolves than females, but no such

pattern was observed for snow leopards. People’s negative perceptions

towards wolves were also related to the remoteness of the villages.

Factors affecting people’s perceptions could not be generalized for the

two species, and thus need to be addressed separately. We suggest future

conservation projects and programs should prioritize remote settlements.
 
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 1615  
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Author Bhatia, S., Suryawanshi, K., Redpath, S., Namgail, S., Mishra, C. url 
  Title Understanding People's Relationship With Wildlife in Trans-Himalayan Folklore. Type Journal Article
  Year 2021 Publication Frontiers in Environmental Science Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume 9 Issue 595169 Pages 1-10  
  Keywords attitudes, culture, human-wildlife, narrative, stories, storytelling  
  Abstract People's views and values for wild animals are often a result of their experiences and traditional knowledge. Local folklore represents a resource that can enable an understanding of the nature of human-wildlife interactions, especially the underlying cultural values. Using archival searches and semi-structured interviews, we collected narratives about the ibex (Capra sibirica) (n = 69), and its predators, the wolf (Canis lupus) (n = 52) and the snow leopard (Panthera uncia) (n = 43), in Ladakh, India. We compared these stories to those of a mythical carnivore called seng ge or snow lion (n = 19), frequently referenced in local Tibetan Buddhist folklore and believed to share many of the traits commonly associated with snow leopards (except for livestock depredation). We then categorized the values along social-cultural, ecological and psychological dimensions. We found that the ibex was predominantly associated with utilitarianism and positive symbolism. Both snow leopard and wolf narratives referenced negative affective and negative symbolic values, though more frequently in the case of wolves. Snow leopard narratives largely focused on utilitarian and ecologistic values. In contrast, snow lion narratives were mostly associated with positive symbolism. Our results suggest that especially for snow leopards and wolves, any potentially positive symbolic associations appeared to be overwhelmed by negative sentiments because of their tendency to prey on livestock, unlike in the case of the snow lion. Since these values reflect people's real and multifarious interactions with wildlife, we recommend paying greater attention to understanding the overlaps between natural and cultural heritage conservation to facilitate human-wildlife coexistence.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 1632  
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Author Bhatia, S., Suryawanshi, K., Redpath, S. M., Mishra, C url 
  Title Understanding people's responses toward predators in the Indian Himalaya Type Journal Article
  Year 2020 Publication Animal Conservation Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume Issue Pages 1-8  
  Keywords human-wildlife conflict; human attitudes to wildlife; value orientation; carnivores; tolerance; human-wildlife relationships; risk perception; Himalaya  
  Abstract Research on human–wildlife interactions has largely focused on the magnitude of wildlife‐caused damage, and the patterns and correlates of human attitudes and behaviors. We assessed the role of five pathways through which various correlates potentially influence human responses toward wild animals, namely, value orientation, social interactions (i.e. social cohesion and support), dependence on resources such as agriculture and livestock, risk perception and nature of interaction with the wild animal. We specifically evaluated their influence on people's responses toward two large carnivores, the snow leopard Panthera uncia and the wolf Canis lupus in an agropastoral landscape in the Indian Trans‐Himalaya. We found that the nature of the interaction (location, impact and length of time since an encounter or depredation event), and risk perception (cognitive and affective evaluation of the threat posed by the animal) had a significant influence on attitudes and behaviors toward the snow leopard. For wolves, risk perception and social interactions (the relationship of people with local institutions and inter‐community dynamics) were significant. Our findings underscore the importance of interventions that reduce people's threat perceptions from carnivores, improve their connection with nature and strengthen the conservation capacity of local institutions especially in the context of wolves.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 1630  
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