Non-volant mammal inventory of western Mongolian-Manchurian Grassland Ecoregion: a biogeographic crossroad worth preserving

Abstract

The extensive Mongolian grasslands hosts a high variety of micro-habitats which wildlife uses as corridors that enable species to expand their range. Between May 2017 and March 2018, we conducted an intensive survey in the Mongolian-Manchurian Grassland Ecoregion using camera trapping, field transects, live trapping and opportunistic observations, in mountain outcrops, grass steppe and sand dune habitats across seasons. Our aim was to compile the first satisfactory inventory of mammals based on scientific methods for a diverse landscape in the Mongolian provinces of Tov and Dundgovi. Furthermore, our research seeks to fill in knowledge gaps on species distribution and range expansions in the endangered west Mongolian-Manchurian Grassland ecoregion and identify biodiversity hotspot areas encompassed in this biogeographic crossroad. We recorded 31 species of non-volant mammals, including a globally Endangered species and two Near Threatened species, according to the IUCN Red List, and three species listed in Appendix II of CITES.

A questionnaire-based investigation to explore the social and legal implications derived from the use of camera traps for wildlife monitoring and conservation

“…The use of camera traps for wildlife monitoring has been practiced since the early twentieth century (Chapman 1927), but in recent years, they are becoming one of the mainstream tools used in conservation biology, ranging from the most basic level aimed at assessing species presence at a site (Kays et al 2011;Zaccaroni et al 2020), abundance estimation (Franchini et al 2022;Oberosler et al 2022), and population dynamics studies (Karanth 1995(Karanth , 2006Romani et al 2018;Anile et al 2020;Augugliaro et al 2019Augugliaro et al , 2020 up to the assessment of activity patterns (Andreoni et al 2020;Anile et al 2020) and temporal overlap of different species (Mori et al 2021). This explosion in camera trap use is reflected by the increased number of published papers in recent years.…”