Free‐ranging livestock affected the spatiotemporal behavior of the endangered snow leopard (Panthera uncia)

Abstract

Long recognized as a threat to wildlife, particularly for large carnivores, livestock grazing in protected areas can potentially undermine conservation objectives. The interspecific interactions among livestock, snow leopards (Panthera uncia), and their wild prey in fragile Asian highland ecosystems have been a subject of debate. We strategically deployed 164 camera traps in the Wolong National Nature Reserve to systematically investigate the activities of snow leopards, their primary wild ungulate prey species, and free-ranging livestock. We found that snow leopard habitat use was influenced by both wild prey and livestock. Blue sheep served as the main wild prey that spatially attracted snow leopards and coexisted with yaks while free-ranging yaks significantly restricted snow leopard habitat use both temporally and spatially.This study challenges the conventional understanding that livestock indirectly impacts large carnivores by competing with and displacing wild prey. Our findings highlight that free-ranging yaks within the alpine canyon terrain could directly limit snow leopard habitat use, suggesting a potential risk of grazing in reducing apex predator distribution and jeopardizing their populations. Consequently, managing their coexistence in shared habitats requires a more nuanced approach. Furthermore, our research underscores the importance of further research efforts aimed at enhancing our comprehension of the complex interplay within animal communities and ecosystems. This knowledge will contribute to the development of informed, evidence-based conservation strategies and policies.

Whispers in the snow: unveiling the spatio-temporal snow leopard (Panthera uncia) territorial marking and cub observations for conservation in Baltistan

“…In our study, we analyzed the temporal marking activity patterns of snow leopards during day and night in relation to the presence or absence of snow cover. This comparison was done by tting non-parametric kernel density functions using the "Overlap" package with default bandwidth parameters, as recommended by (Johansson et al, 2022;Li et al, 2023). Circular density curves were used to compare the patterns, and the coe cient of overlap (∆4) was calculated, ranging from 0 (no overlap) to 1 (complete overlap), following the method proposed by (Johansson et al, 2022;Yang et al, 2018).We estimated the overlap coe cient (∆4) for the temporal marking activity of snow leopards in the presence or absence of snow cover and during day versus night events for each communication behavior.…”

“…Video analysis was performed at a minimum time interval of 30 minutes to avoid pseudo replication, as suggested by (Kays et al, 2020;Zhu et al, 2021) .We assessed the range of individuals using the same site and the visitation rate between consecutive visits to investigate snow leopard variability in their activities across different communication behaviors and habitat types. Subsequently, we examined signi cant variations in the temporal marking activity patterns of snow leopards in areas with and without snow cover for day versus night by using Watson's 2-sample test in the "circular (version 0.4-94)" package in R 4.0.5 (Li et al, 2023;Zaman et al, 2022b).…”

“…To assess the interaction between the presence and absence of snow and their impact on the detection frequency of different communication behaviors of snow leopards during both day and nighttime (Zaman et al, 2022b). we performed pairwise comparisons of day or night temporal marking behaviors with the respective presence or absence of snow cover using the Mann-Whitney U test (Li et al, 2023).These comparisons assessed the detection frequencies of each communication behavior in the presence or absence of snow, while considering day and night as grouping variables. The Mann-Whitney U tests were conducted using using IBM SPSS SPSS 20.00 (IBM SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA).…”

“…To facilitate data collection, a grid system (5 x 5 km) was adopted based on the methodology proposed by J. Li et al(2023), with each grid cell positioned around 2 km apart and equipped with one or two infrared cameras (Bushnell© and Browning©, manufactured by Shenzhen Weixin Science And Technology Development Co. Ltd., Shenzhen China) strategically placed to capture images from both sides of visiting snow leopards at trapping stations. This camera setup aimed to capture images from both sides of a visiting cat, thereby increasing the likelihood of identifying different individuals from initial capture to recapture (Zhu et al, 2021), Camera site selection prioritized accessibility for monitoring and minimized the risk of damage from natural disasters like avalanches, landslides, oods, and soil erosion.…”

“…The communication activities of apex predators are crucial for maintaining ecosystem structure by regulating food chains in mountain landscapes (Johansson et al, 2022). However, these apex predators are globally experiencing rapid range contractions due to human activities such as land-use changes (Buzzard et al, 2017), grazing pressure (Li et al, 2023), poaching (Hacker et al, 2021;Li and Lu, 2014), retaliatory killings related to livestock damages, and the fur trade (Ahmad et al, 2022;Li and Lu, 2014). These factors are also impacting the endangered snow leopards' population, reproduction, and distribution in northern Pakistan (Ahmad et al, 2022;Li et al, 2020), ultimately leading to their inclusion on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) .…”