Abstract
Information about competition between carnivore species for food within high altitude regions is limited. Data collected from the Taxkorgan Nature Reserve, China revealed important interactions between snow leopard (Panthera uncia), grey wolf (Canis lupus), red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and their prey species, including domestic livestock. Sixty-four line transects were conducted in order to identify field signs of habitat occupancy and collect scats for diet analysis. High dietary overlap was observed between all three carnivore species: snow leopard and red fox (Pianka’s index = 0.96), red fox and grey wolf (Pianka’s index = 0.90), snow leopard and grey wolf (Pianka’s index = 0.87). Snow leopard and grey wolf showed significant predation on livestock (36.8 % for snow leopard and 29.4 % for grey wolf in diet composition). As a pioneering exploration of the endangered snow leopard and its relationship with other species within the alpine ecosystem under livestock grazing pressure, this study contributes a greater understanding of the relationship within carnivore guild in the Pamirs whilst providing implications for conservation planning and project implementation activities in China.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Roemer GW, Gompper ME, Van VB (2009) The ecological role of the mammalian mesocarnivore. Bioscience 2:165–173
Morozov AY, Nezlin NP, Petrovskii SV (2005) Invasion of a top predator into an epipelagic ecosystem can bring a paradoxical top-down trophic control. Biol Invasions 5:845–861
Soulé M, Estes JA, Miller B et al (2005) Strongly interacting species: conservation policy, management, and ethics. Bioscience 2:168–176
Mccarthy TM, Chapron G (2003) Snow leopard survival strategy. International Snow Leopard Trust and Snow Leopard Network, Seattle
Linnell JDC, Swenson JE, Andersen R (2000) Conservation of biodiversity in Scandinavian boreal forests: large carnivores as flagships, umbrellas, indicators, or keystones? Biodivers Conserv 7:857–868
Schaller GB (1998) Wildlife of the tibetan steppe. University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London
Estes JA (1996) Predators and ecosystem management. Wildl Soc B 24:390–396
Cole DN, Landres PB (1996) Threats to wilderness ecosystems: impacts and research needs. Ecol Appl 1:168–184
Fox JL, Nurbu C, Bhatt S et al (1994) Wildlife conservation and land-use changes in the Transhimalayan region of Ladakh, India. Mt Res Dev 14:39–60
Lu AG, Kang SC, Li ZX et al (2010) Altitude effects of climatic variation on Tibetan plateau and its vicinities. J Earth Sci China 21:189–198
Diaz HF, Grosjean M, Lisa G (2003) Climate variability and change in high elevation regions: past, present and future. Clim Chang 59:1–4
McCarthy KP, Fuller TK, Ma M et al (2008) Assessing estimators of snow leopard abundance. J Wildl Manag 8:1826–1833
Swanson WF, Brown JL, Wildt DE (1996) Influence of seasonality on reproductive traits of the male Pallas cat (Felis manul) and implications for captive management. J Zoo Wildl Med 27:234–240
Blumstein DT, Robertson M (1995) Summer diets of Tibetan red foxes in Khunjerab National Park, Pakistan. Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde 60:243–245
Cupples JB, Crowther MS, Story G et al (2011) Dietary overlap and prey selectivity among sympatric carnivores: could dingoes suppress foxes through competition for prey? J Mammal 3:590–600
Wang SW, Macdonald DW (2009) Feeding habits and niche partitioning in a predator guild composed of tigers, leopards and dholes in a temperate ecosystem in central Bhutan. J Zool 277:275–283
Ray JC, Sunquist ME (2001) Tropic relations in a community of African rainforest carnivores. Oceologia 127:395–408
Boitani L, Powell RA (2012) Carnivore ecology and conservation: A handbook of techniques. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Liu Z, Gong M, Liang B et al (2010) General scientific survey report in Taxkorgan Nature Reserve, Xinjiang (in Chinese)
Long RA, Mackay P, Ray J et al (2008) Noninvasive survey methods for carnivores. Island Press, Washington
Jackson R, Hunter DO (1996) Snow leopard survey and conservation handbook. International Snow Leopard Trust, Seattle, and U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division
Ma S, Ma X, Shi W (2001) A guide to Chinese mammal signs. China Forestry Publishing House, Beijing
Oli MK (1993) A key for the identification of the hair of mammals of a Snow leopard (Panthera uncia) habitat in Nepal. J Zool 231:71–93
Farrell LE, Roman J, Sunquist ME (2000) Dietary separation of sympatric carnivores identified by molecular analysis of scats. Mol Ecol 10:1583–1590
Janečka JE, Jackson R, Yuquang Z et al (2008) Population monitoring of snow leopards using noninvasive collection of scat samples: a pilot study. Anim Conserv 11:401–411
Zhang Z, Schwartz S, Wagner L et al (2000) A greedy algorithm for aligning DNA sequences. J Comput Biol 1–2:203–214
Wang J, Shi K, Riordan P (2012) Study on population density of ungulates in Taxkorgan, Xinjiang, China. Chin J Wildl 33:113–117 (in Chinese)
Khatoon R (2010) Diet selection of snow leopard (Uncia uncia) in Chitral area. Dissertation, Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi
Pianka ER, Pianka HD (1976) Comparative ecology of twelve species of nocturnal lizards (Gekkonidae) in the Western Australian desert. Copeia 125–142
Clarke KR (1993) Non-parametric multivariate analyses of changes in community structure. Aust J Ecol 18:117–143
Clarke KR, Gorley RN (2001) Primer 5, vol 5. Primer-E Ltd., Plymouth
Fedosenko A, Blank D (2001) Capra sibirica. Am Soc Mammal 675:1–13
Heptner V, Nasimovich A, Bannikov A (1988) Artiodactyla and perissodactyla. In Mammals of the Soviet Union. Vysshaya Shkola Publishers, Moscow
Jumabay-Uulu K, Wegge P, Mishra C et al (2013) Large carnivores and low diversity of optimal prey: a comparison of the diets of snow leopards Panthera uncia and wolves Canis lupus in Sarychat-Ertash Reserve in Kyrgyzstan. Oryx 1–7
Vanselow KA, Kraudzun T, Samimi C (2012) Grazing practices and pasture tenure in the Eastern Pamirs. Mt Res Dev 3:324–336
Sillero-Zubiri C, Michael H, Macdonald DW (2004) Canids: foxes, wolves, jackals and dogs. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge
D’ Hondt B, Vansteenbrugge L, Van den Berge K et al (2011) Scat analysis reveals a wide set of plant species to be potentially dispersed by foxes. Plant Ecol Evol 144:106–110
Chundawat RS, Rawat GS (1994) Food habit of snow leopard in Ladakh India. International snow leopard trust, Seattle
Willson MF (1993) Mammals as seed-dispersal mutualists in North-America. Oikos 67:159–176
Wang S, Yang G (1983) The rodent fauna of xinjiang. Xinjiang People’s Publishing House, Urumqi
Treves A, Wallace RB, Naughton-Treves L et al (2006) Co-Managing human-wildlife conflicts: a review. Hum Dimens Wildl 6:383–396
Woodroffe R, Thirgood S, Rabinowitz A (2005) People and wildlife, conflict or co-existence? Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Hansen I, Staaland T, Rings A (2002) Patrolling with livestock guard dogs: a potential method to reduce predation on sheep. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section A. Science 1:43–48
Smith ME, Linnell JDC, Odden J et al (2000) Review of methods to reduce livestock depradation: I. Guardian animals. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section A. Science 4:279–290
Oli MK, Taylor IR, Rogers ME (1993) Diet of the Snow leopard (Panthera uncia) in the Annapurna conservation Area. Nepal J Zool 231:365–370
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the State Forestry Administration of China (SFA), Snow Leopard Network, the Snow Leopard Trust, Panthera, Beijing Forestry University and the University of Oxford. We appreciate the great support from the Forestry Department of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Wildlife Conservation Division of Kashi Region, Taxkorgan Nagure Reserve Administration, Livestock Husbandry Bureau of Taxkorgan County, and government of Mariang community. We greatly thank our local guide Kemeti Taklashur for his tremendous contribution in the field. Many thanks go to Shi Fanglei from Institute of Zoology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Zhang Chengcheng, Bai Defeng, Qiu Dongdong, Tang Meiqing, Peng Yangjing and Chen Pengju from Beijing Forestry University for their support in the laboratory.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, J., Laguardia, A., Damerell, P.J. et al. Dietary overlap of snow leopard and other carnivores in the Pamirs of Northwestern China. Chin. Sci. Bull. 59, 3162–3168 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-014-0370-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-014-0370-y