Where and How many? The status of snow leopard (Panthera uncia) density surveys and knowledge gaps in China

doi:10.17520/biods.2019027

Abstract

Abstract:

The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is widely distributed across remote and difficult-to-traverse terrains. Thus, the main obstacle to snow leopard research is the lack of baseline data. Here, we retrieved all articles published in either Chinese or English that studied snow leopards in China from 1980 to 2018, and from these we identified 35 papers that reported on the distribution or density of snow leopards in their results sections. Eighteen of these included a density estimation. Additionally, we obtained unpublished snow leopard density survey data from 28 different areas. On this basis, we assessed the status of snow leopard surveys and data-deficient areas in each province. We found that the two areas most lacking data for the snow leopard distribution surveys exist in the West Tianshan Mountains bordering Kyrgyzstan and the Gangdisi-Nyenchenthanglha Mountains and the Himalayas in southern Tibet. Relative to the total area of China’s snow leopard habitat, density surveys still only cover a small fraction of their habitat (1.7%), so these aggregation efforts are far from complete. Finally, because existing density surveys tend to explore relatively good snow leopard habitats, we must continue to expand survey efforts, especially across data-deficient areas.

Key words: snow leopard, China, distribution, density, data-deficient areas

Yanjiang Liu, Xueyang Li, Xuchang Liang, Yanlin Liu, Chen Cheng, Juan Li, Piaopiao Tang, Huiyuan Qi, Xiaoxing Bian, Bing He, Rui Xing, Sheng Li, Xiaogang Shi, Chuangming Yang, Yadong Xue, Xinming Lian, Awangjiumei , Xierannima , Dazhao Song, Lingyun Xiao, Zhi Lü. Where and How many? The status of snow leopard (Panthera uncia) density surveys and knowledge gaps in China[J]. Biodiv Sci, 2019, 27(9): 919-931.

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URL: https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/10.17520/biods.2019027

https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/Y2019/V27/I9/919

Figures/Tables 2

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地区 Area	雪豹栖息地面积Snow leopard habitat (km²)	密度调查覆盖面积Density survey area (km²)	占雪豹栖息地百分比 Proportion of snow leopard habitat (%)	已发表密度调查文献数 Literatures published on density surveys	未发表密度调查数量 Unpublished density surveys
新疆 Xinjiang	476,398	2,315	0.49	9	5
内蒙古 Inner Mongolia	21,762	0	0	0	0
甘肃 Gansu	105,815	4,300	4.06	1	8
青海 Qinghai	330,768	14,680	4.44	5	8
西藏 Tibet	660,798	4,503	0.68	2	8
云南 Yunnan	15,756	0	0	0	0
四川 Sichuan	160,366	4,578	2.85	1	4
全国 China	1,771,662	29,934	1.69	18	28

地区 Area	雪豹栖息地面积Snow leopard habitat (km²)	密度调查覆盖面积Density survey area (km²)	占雪豹栖息地百分比 Proportion of snow leopard habitat (%)	已发表密度调查文献数 Literatures published on density surveys	未发表密度调查数量 Unpublished density surveys
新疆 Xinjiang	476,398	2,315	0.49	9	5
内蒙古 Inner Mongolia	21,762	0	0	0	0
甘肃 Gansu	105,815	4,300	4.06	1	8
青海 Qinghai	330,768	14,680	4.44	5	8
西藏 Tibet	660,798	4,503	0.68	2	8
云南 Yunnan	15,756	0	0	0	0
四川 Sichuan	160,366	4,578	2.85	1	4
全国 China	1,771,662	29,934	1.69	18	28

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