Advancing Research And Conservation Of Snow Leopards In The Qilianshan Mountains Of China: Management And Methodological Implications

The high altitude landscape used by the endangered snow leopard (Panthera uncia) and their prey is increasingly subject to human pressures. Humans are at the centre of major threats to the species, including retaliatory killing, livestock rearing, contribution to loss of prey, and the increasing penetration of development projects into snow leopard areas. The interface between snow leopards and humans remains poorly understood and robust assessment and monitoring techniques are urgently required to address this gap and to inform the development of action plans for snow leopard conservation.This research aimed to assess the status of snow leopards in Qilianshan National Nature Reserve (QNNR), Gansu Province, China. In doing so, it considered the performance of non-invasive data collection techniques combined with recent advances in statistical methods.We first sought to provide a contextual foundation for framing potential threats to snow leopards, drawing on perceptions and attitudes of the local community towards the snow leopard and other carnivores. To do this, we conducted questionnaire-based interviews with household members (n=60) and livestock herders (n=49) across seven villages. We then adopted a snow leopard species-specific focus, through the use of non-invasive techniques for estimating density and site use and identifying potential threats across a 480 km2 study area. We combined camera trapping with recent modelling approaches, including spatial capture-recapture and likelihood-based occupancy methods. We also conducted a 19-month camera trap survey effort, to examine temporal patterns in parameter estimates and explore their implications for monitoring programs. We then broadened the assessment of threats to the landscape level, using carnivore sign surveys and spatial auto-correlation occupancy models, to explore in more detail potential disturbances such as mining and the role of prey. Finally we expanded the focus to consider measures for the conservation of snow leopards at the local scale that could benefit other sympatric carnivore species.The findings provide a snapshot of the status of snow leopard-human interactions in QNNR. They suggest that local communities in and surrounding QNNR have more tolerant attitudes towards the snow leopard than towards other carnivores (notably the grey wolf Canis lupus and the Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx). Snow leopard density in our 19-month camera-trapping effort was estimated in 2013-2014 to be at 1.40 (SE 0.36) individuals per 100 km2. At the local level, elevation had the strongest influence on snow leopard site-use, with the probability of site-use increasing with altitude. On the other hand, presence of prey, in this case blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur), and distance to roads had relatively weaker influences. At the landscape level, the presence of prey emerged as the key determinant of site use, while human activities such as the presence of livestock and mining were less important. Overall, the results demonstrate that, in northern QNNR, snow leopards persist in a landscape that has been largely encroached upon by humans. They also confirm that other carnivores, including the red fox (Vulpes vulpes), grey wolf, Eurasian lynx and dhole (Cuon alpinus), occur along snow leopard travel routes, albeit with low detection rates. The results of our simulation exercises and of our continuous camera trap survey underline the critical challenges in achieving sufficient sample sizes of snow leopard captures and recaptures and provide guidance for designing studies when detection of snow leopards remains low.The thesis serves as a case study on approaches to gain critical knowledge on the status of snow leopards within a protected area, namely QNNR, and investigate local threats. It discusses field and analytical protocols that enable more precise and robust estimation of snow leopard density and site use and-with suggested performance improvements-can lead to improved monitoring programs. It considers protective measures at the local scale that would benefit snow leopards, and possibly other carnivore and prey species as well. The thesis demonstrates how a comprehensive appraisal of local contexts using robust assessment techniques can serve to guide local-level planning for snow leopard conservation in protected across China.