Habitat Selection And Diet Analysis Of Snow Leopard(Panthera Unica) In Wolong Nature Reserve

Snow leopard(Panthera unica)is the top predator in high elevation ecosystems that plays an indicator role in the assessment of biodiversity loss.Meanwhile,snow leopard is one of the typical large carnivores that have conflicts with human beings.Explore the root causes of the conflicts between snow leopards and human is helpful for alleviating human-leopard conflicts and providing a reference to protection and management of other large carnivores.This study focused on the habitat selection and food source structure of snow leopards,combined with grazing factors,and took Wolong National Nature Reserve as an example to carry out investigation and research.We used line transect and sample plot methods to conduct the investigation and collect the relevant data.We used SPSS,Arc GIS and other analysis software.The analytical methods include chi-square test,Binomial Logistic Regression analysis,calculation of nearest neighbor index(R)and other analytical methods.We conduct our research in Wolong Nature Reserve in four aspects: habitat selection,food source structure,microhabitat selection and Spatial utilization of snow leopards under different grazing intensifies.Our research enriches and improves the basic research on snow leopards in Wolong Nature Reserve,provides data reference for the formulation of snow leopard protection and management policies in Wolong and other reserves,and provides case reference for exploring ways to alleviate the conflicts between humans and wildlife and realizing the harmonious coexistence of humans and wildlife.The results showed that:(1)Snow leopards preferentially selected areas with altitudes of 3500-4500 m,slopes of 31-45°,and without livestock.Regarding slope location,snow leopards preferred ridgelines and upper slopes and avoided middle and lower slopes and valleys.Snow leopards also selected areas with fewer and smaller shrubs such as meadow and alpine screes.Finally,snow leopards selected meadows with few and short grasses.Our study clarifies the habitat selection preference of snow leopards,enriches the research on habitat selection of snow leopards,and provides reference for the formulation of habitat conservation policies for snow leopards in Wolong and other nature reserves,so as to improve the pertinence and effectiveness of habitat conservation for snow leopards.Compared to the difference of habitat utilization between high grazing disturbance areas and low grazing disturbance areas was found: The herb coverage and average height in low grazing disturbance areas were higher,but the number of herb species was lower.The snow leopards in the areas with high grazing disturbance had a higher degree of slope utilization,while the snow leopards in the areas with low grazing had a higher degree of slope direction and vegetation type utilization.About the microhabitat selection of snow leopards,resource selection model results show that altitude and vegetation type affect the microhabitat selection of snow leopards at low grazing distribution areas,snow leopards preferentially selected higher elevations and alpine screes.In the high grazing disturbance areas,the final model included no significant variables predicted to affect the microhabitat selection of snow leopards.In other words,snow leopard in high grazing disturbance areas is not selective for habitat factors.According to the above research results,high intensity grazing reduces the vegetation biomass in the habitat of snow leopards,and at the same time,the available living space of snow leopards is compressed by livestock.A large number of suitable habitats of snow leopards are occupied by livestock,which leads to the weakened selectivity of snow leopards to habitat factors.Our study reveals the importance of controlling grazing intensity for snow leopard conservation,and provides an important reference for the policy formulation of livestock grazing management in Wolong and other conservation areas.(2)The signs density of snow leopards,livestock,and blue sheep(Pseudois nayaur)in high grazing disturbance areas was larger than that in low grazing disturbance areas.Specifically,these species had sign densities of 0.45/km2,0.17/km2,and 1.39/km2 in low grazing disturbance areas and sign densities of 2.50/km2,5.84/km2,7.75/km2 in high grazing disturbance areas,respectively.Higher sign densities do not necessarily indicate a larger number of individuals-it may just be a reflection of the activity of the populations being more concentrated.Snow leopards,livestock,and blue sheep all featured aggregated distributions in both low and high grazing disturbance areas,but the distribution of snow leopards in high grazing disturbance areas was more concentrated than that in low grazing disturbance areas.These results explain the impact of livestock grazing on the survival of snow leopards from the perspective of space utilization,which can be used as an important basis for controlling grazing intensity in Wolong and other reserves.(3)The main animal food sources of snow leopards were blue sheep(Pseudois nayaur)(59.26%),livestock(25.93%),rodents(Rodentia)(22.22%),and birds(Aves)(7.41%).The main vegetative food sources were Gramineae(59.26%),Bryophytes(44.44%)and sedge families(Cyperaceae Juss.1789)(33.33%),with few shrubs and other plants.In this study,livestock accounted for a high proportion,second only to the blue sheep,this indicates that the conflict between humans and snow leopards is obvious at present,which reveals the necessity of controlling livestock grazing intensity in the current snow leopard conservation.At the same time,the results of this study have improved the research on the vegetative food source of snow leopards,which is conducive to improving the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the food protection of snow leopards in Wolong and other reserves.