Patterns of conflict and coexistence between agro-pastoralists and snow leopards (Panthera uncia) in Ladakh, India Public

Abstract

As an apex predator and flagship species, conservation of Panthera uncia is important for numerous species and landscapes throughout Central Asia. Conservation can also be contentious among traditional agro-pastoralists, however, who often feel they are unwillingly subsidizing efforts with no benefit to themselves. The objectives of this study were to contribute to knowledge of snow leopard distribution in Ladakh, to describe patterns of livestock depredation by snow leopards, to identify potential socioecological correlates, to test terrain ruggedness as a predictor of depredation, and to test the effectiveness of basic field methodology. In total, 48 1-km transects were surveyed for animal sign, 48 1-hour vantage point scans were conducted for live animal sightings, and 59 households were interviewed. My results suggest that neither terrain ruggedness, snow leopard sign, livestock ownership, nor number of households in an area, is strongly correlated with snow leopard depredation rate of domestic livestock. Small livestock were killed most frequently (82.8%), and most livestock were killed in corrals (65.5%), in spring (65.5%), and early summer (13.8%). This suggests that damage to agro-pastoralist livelihood can be greatly diminished by fortifying livestock enclosures. I emphasize, however, that any underlying depredation correlates or patterns might be obscured in this study by the small sample size, and by the rapid social restructuring of Ladakhi communities and inherent socioecological heterogeneity in the system.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2. Materials and Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.1 Study Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.2 Data Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2.3 Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2.3.1 Terrain Ruggedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2.3.2 Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

3. Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3.1 Snow Leopard Sign and Wildlife Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3.2 Livestock Mortality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

3.3 Measures of Terrain Ruggedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

3.4 Correlates of Depredation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

4. Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

4.1 Snow Leopard Sign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

4.2 Livestock Mortality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

4.3 Terrain Ruggedness Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

4.4 Depredation Correlates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

4.5 Social Change in Ladakh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

4.6 Management Implications, Future Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

4.7 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Figures

Figure 1: Study Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Figure 2: Ladakhi Villages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Figure 3: Search Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Figure 4: Snow Leopard Sign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Figure 5: Terrain Ruggedness Qualifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Figure 6: Most Common Ungulates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Figure 7: Comparisons of Terrain Ruggedness Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Figure 8: Expected Correlations of Site-Level Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Figure 9: Potential Correlates of Site-Level Depredation Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Tables

Table 3: Live Mammal and Bird of Prey Sightings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Table 2: Livestock Ownership Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Table 2: 2014-2015 Depredation Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Appendix 1: VRM Search Site Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Appendix 2: Stylized QRM Grading System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Appendix 3: Livestock Ownership and Depredation Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . 43

Appendix 4: Site-Level Terrain Ruggedness and Elevation Information . . . . . . 45

About this Master's Thesis

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Environmental Sciences
Degree	MS
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Agriculture, Wildlife Conservation Biology, Ecology Biology, Conservation
Mot-clé	Panthera uncia Ladakh agro-pastoralist depredation snow leopard livestock mortality terrain ruggedness
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Wegner, John, Emory University
Committee Members	Gunderson, Lance, Emory University Kitron, Uriel, Emory University

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