Plateau Pika<i>Ochotona curzoniae</i>Poisoning Campaign Reduces Carnivore Abundance in Southern Qinghai, China

Badingqiuying,; Smith, Andrew T.; Senko, Jesse; Siladan, Marcelino U.

doi:10.3106/041.041.0102

Cited by 35 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Lagomorphs occur worldwide (except in Antarctica) across a wide range of habitats spanning altitudes from sea level to more than 5000 m and latitudes from the equator up to 80°N (Wilson et al 2016;Smith et al 2018). Not surprisingly, lagomorphs are important for maintaining the equilibrium of many different ecosystems given that they are primary consumers and key prey species for a large array of predators (e.g., Tablado et al 2009;Vaughan et al 2013;Badingqiuying et al 2016). This emphasizes the need to understand what controls population dynamics in Lagomorpha including their reproductive behaviour.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat characteristics and life history explain reproductive seasonality in lagomorphs

Heldstab

2021

Mamm Biol

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Lagomorphs show extensive seasonal variation in their reproduction. However, the factors causing this large variation have so far mostly been investigated intraspecifically and therefore provide only some exemplary comparisons of lagomorph reproductive seasonality. The present study applies both a categorical description (birth season categories 1–5) and a quantitative measure (birth season length in months) to summarize the degree of birth seasonality in the wild of 69 lagomorph species. Using a comparative approach, I tested the influence of 13 factors, comprising six habitat, five life history and two allometric variables on birth season length in lagomorphs. Leporids mainly show non-seasonal birthing patterns with high intraspecific variation. Their opportunistic breeding strategy with high reproductive output and their large distribution areas across wide latitude and elevation ranges might be the reasons for this finding. Ochotonids reproduce strictly seasonally, likely because they live at northern latitudes, are high-altitude specialists, and occur in limited distribution areas. The most important factors associated with variation in lagomorph birth seasonality are mid-latitude, mean annual temperature and precipitation of a species’ geographical range and life history adaptations including fewer but larger litters in seasonal habitats. Birth seasons become shorter with increasing latitude, colder temperatures, and less precipitation, corresponding to the decreasing length of optimal environmental conditions. Leporid species with shorter breeding seasons force maternal resources into few large litters to maximise reproductive output while circumstances are favourable. Since allometric variables were only weakly associated with reproductive seasonality, life history adaptations and habitat characteristics determine birth seasonality in Lagomorpha.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat characteristics and life history explain reproductive seasonality in lagomorphs

Heldstab

2021

Mamm Biol

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“…Like a brown bear (Ursus arctos pruinosus), Tibetan fox (Vulpes ferrilata), steppe polecat (Mustela eversmanni), mountain weasel (Mustela sibirica), saker falcon (Falco cherrug), eurasian sparrow hawk (Accipiter nisus melaschistos), upland buzzard (Buteo hemilasius) and little owl (Athene noctua) et al (Badingqiuying et al, 2016). 3.…”

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confidence: 99%

The plateau pika has multiple benefits for alpine grassland ecosystem in Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

Zhao

et al. 2020

Ecosyst Health Sustain

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The plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) has been engaged in pest control for many years based on the logic that the plateau pika is responsible for alpine grassland degradation and competes with livestock for forage resources. However, the plateau pika is an important species which has multiple benefits in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, as it (i) makes burrows that are the primary homes for lizards and a variety of small birds; (ii) creates microhabitat disturbance that promotes the increase of plant species richness; (iii) serves as the principal prey for almost all of the plateau predator species; and (iv) contributes positively to the dynamic equilibrium of alpine ecosystems.

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“…Between 1964 and 1995, 208,000 km 2 of grassland were poisoned, and by 2006, poison had been applied to more than 357,000 km 2 of grassland in Qinghai Province alone. 18 With the declaration of the Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve in 2000 to protect the sources of the Yellow, Yangtze and Mekong Rivers, more funding still was provided for pika extermination; 25.5 million USD (157 million yuan) was dedicated to poisoning over 78,500 km 2 of grassland through 2013. 19 Over six decades, poisoning has been justified first as a way to remove an impediment to livestock productivity and more recently because grassland degradation is now framed as a threat to national ecological security.…”

Section: Pests Versus Keystone Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pests, keystone species, and hungry ghosts: the Gesar epic and human-pika relations on the Tibetan Plateau

Yeh

Gaerrang

2020

cultural geographies

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For over half a century, the Chinese government has carried out large-scale poisoning campaigns on the Tibetan Plateau in an effort to exterminate the plateau pika, which is viewed as a pest that competes with livestock and causes grassland degradation. Since the 1990s, an ecological counternarrative has emerged in which pikas are keystone species rather than pests, and indicators rather than prime causes of grassland degradation. Virtually ignored in this debate are the ways in which Tibetan pastoralists understand and relate to pikas. We investigate Tibetan analytics of what pikas are, and what draws them to specific sites, based on interviews and observations in two pastoral communities, as well as readings of the Epic of King Gesar. Performed by bards since the twelfth century, the epic is grounded in the cultural milieu of Tibetan nomadic society and continues to be an important part of everyday life. As such, it shapes Tibetan analytics, a term we use to refer to forms of reason that cannot be reduced to ‘cultural belief.’ Because large numbers of pikas, as hungry ghosts, are drawn to places where the essence or fertility of the earth has been depleted, causing irritation to territorial deities, Tibetan practices include rituals to feed hungry ghosts, appease territorial deities, and return treasures to restore the fertility of the earth. Bringing Tibetan analytics together with proposals for political ontology, the article examines the ways in which these different ontologies, or practices of worlding, cooperate and conflict in a context of asymmetric power relations and non-liberal recognition of difference. This approach takes seriously both the agency of the nonhuman as well as human difference, while rejecting notions of rigidly bounded ontologies.

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Plateau PikaOchotona curzoniaePoisoning Campaign Reduces Carnivore Abundance in Southern Qinghai, China

Cited by 35 publications

References 32 publications

Habitat characteristics and life history explain reproductive seasonality in lagomorphs

Habitat characteristics and life history explain reproductive seasonality in lagomorphs

The plateau pika has multiple benefits for alpine grassland ecosystem in Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

Pests, keystone species, and hungry ghosts: the Gesar epic and human-pika relations on the Tibetan Plateau

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