Metabarcoding diet analysis of snow leopards (<i>Panthera uncia</i>) in Wolong National Nature Reserve, Sichuan Province

Abstract

As the apex predator of plateau ecosystems in Central Asia and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the snow leopard (Panthera uncia) plays an essential role in maintaining food-web structure and ecosystem stability. Learning the diet composition and dynamics of the snow leopard is important for understanding its role in ecosystem functioning and interspecific interactions. Previous diet analyses of the snow leopard have been based mainly on morphological identification of food debris in the feces, though the accuracy of this practice has been broadly debated. The Qionglai Mountains are located at the southeast edge of the snow leopard range, harboring a small and relatively isolated population of snow leopards that are barely studied. Using non-invasive sampling, we collected 38 putative snow leopard fecal samples in the Wolong National Nature Reserve in the Qionglai Mountains. To identify the fecal origin, we extracted the fecal DNA and amplified the mitochondrial DNA 16S rRNA gene fragment. Twenty-two fecal samples were identified as originating from snow leopards. Subsequently, vertebrate universal primers and a snow leopard-specific blocking oligo were used to amplify the food components in the fecal DNA, and then high-throughput sequencing was performed to analyze the diet composition of snow leopards. The blue sheep

Spatial Utilization and Microhabitat Selection of the Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia) under Different Livestock Grazing Intensities

“…With livestock occupying the space and food resources of blue sheep, their viability in the ecosystem decreases (Karimov et al 2018). Although some studies in recent years have shown that livestock make up an increasing proportion of the snow leopard's diet, the snow leopard's main food source is still blue sheep (Oli et al 1993;Bagchi and Mishra 2006;Lu et al 2019;Shehzad et al 2012). The availability of this prey is an important factor affecting the habitat selection of snow leopard (J.…”

“…Rare and threatened species that occur in the park include the snow leopard, giant panda, sambar deer (Rusa Unicolor), golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus Roxellana) (Hou et al 2018;Shi et al 2017), gong tong (Davidia involucrata Baillon), and shui shan (Metasequoia glyptostroboides Hu and W. C. Cheng) (Zhang et al 2005). The reserve is part of the Qionglai Mountain range, which is the southeastern edge of the global distribution of snow leopards (Lu et al 2019). The snow leopard was first detected in Wolong by infrared camera traps in 2009 (Qiao et al 2017), and thus research into snow leopards there has only begun relatively recently.…”

“…Although tourism has become a bigger part of the local population's income, the number of livestock in the reserve has been increasing in recent years (Wang et al 2018b;Zhang et al 2018). Many livestock are grazed in the alpine meadow ecosystem in Wolong Nature Reserve, where they compete with blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur), goral (Naemorhedus), marmot (Marmota), and other herbivores (Lu et al 2019).…”