Livestock limits snow leopard’s space use by suppressing its prey, blue sheep, at Gongga Mountain, China

Global Ecology and Conservation

Yongjie Wu¹  Gai Luo²  Pei Zhang²  Dong Zhao²  Jianghong Ran³  Qiang Dai⁴  Chuangming Yang⁴  Huaming Zhou⁴ 

[1] Administration of the Gongga Mountain National Nature Reserve, Kangding, Sichuan 626000, China;Sichuan Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology on Endangered Wildlife, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610000, China;Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, Sichuan 610000, China;Key Laboratory of Bio-Resources and Eco-Environment of Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610000, China;

关键词: Grazing;    Panthera uncia;    Ungulate;    Blue sheep;    Yak;    Conservation;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The habitats of snow leopards (Panthera uncia) are heavily utilized as pasturelands on the Tibetan Plateau. Livestock can benefit the snow leopard populations via providing extra prey resources. However, livestock can negatively impact upon the distribution of snow leopards by competing with their wild prey. Therefore, how grazing affects snow leopard space use is variable and its underlying mechanisms are unclear. We used 188 camera traps to systematically investigate the activities of snow leopards, their main wild prey, i.e., blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur), and livestock (i.e. yaks) across 650 km2 of Gongga Mountain. We found that: (1) snow leopards were detected only in areas with higher occurrences of blue sheep, and the presence of blue sheep was crucial in driving snow leopard space use. (2) The detection frequencies of snow leopards and blue sheep were lower at sites with yaks than without yaks. (3) Yaks limited snow leopard space use mainly by competing with its main prey, blue sheep. Our results highlight that the competition pressure of livestock on wild ungulates can limit the activities of snow leopards. Grazing management should be improved for conservation of snow leopards at Gongga Mountain.

【 授权许可】

Unknown