Comparison of noninvasive genetic and camera-trapping techniques for surveying snow leopards

Janečka, Jan E.; Munkhtsog, Bariushaa; Jackson, Rodney; Galsandorj, Naranbaatar; Mallon, David; Murphy, William J.

doi:10.1644/10-mamm-a-036.1

Cited by 89 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…We collected snow leopard scat in 21 localities distributed throughout the range (Figure 1; Supplementary Table S1) using noninvasive genetic surveys following Janecka et al (2008Janecka et al ( , 2011a. DNA was extracted with the Qiagen DNA Stool Kit (Qiagen, Inc., Valencia, CA).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The endangered snow leopard is a flagship species for Asia, the largest carnivore in its high-altitude communities, and yet is under substantial threat throughout its range (Jackson et al 2010;Rosen and Zeller 2016). Research on distribution (Jackson et al 2006, Janecka et al 2008, 2011aMcCarthy et al 2008;Lovari et al 2009;Karmacharya et al 2011;Alexander et al 2016), ecology (Jackson and Ahlborn 1989;McCarthy et al 2005;Anwar et al 2011;Lovari et al 2013;Johansson et al 2016;Chetri et al 2017), adaptation to high-altitude (Cho et al 2013;Janecka et al 2015), and conservation (Hussain 2000;Mishra et al 2003;Jackson and Wangchuk 2004;Rosen et al 2012;Li et al 2014;Kachel et al 2016) has provided many insights into snow leopard abundance, habitat use, behavior, movement patterns, and feeding ecology that are important for guiding conservation and management actions needed to ensure its persistence.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Although snow leopards prefer high-altitude mountainous habitat (e.g., Himalaya, Pamir, Alay, Kunlun, Tian Shan) (Hemmer 1972), they also occur in lower, isolated massifs (e.g., Tost and Noyon Uul in the southern Mongolia, Janecka et al 2011a;Johansson et al 2016) and have been observed moving through flat or rolling terrain (Schaller 1998;McCarthy et al 2005;Johansson et al 2016). However, limited information is available on the level of connectivity among snow leopard populations.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Range-Wide Snow Leopard Phylogeography Supports Three Subspecies

Janečka

Zhang

et al. 2017

Journal of Heredity

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The snow leopard, Panthera uncia, is an elusive high-altitude specialist that inhabits vast, inaccessible habitat across Asia. We conducted the first range-wide genetic assessment of snow leopards based on noninvasive scat surveys. Thirty-three microsatellites were genotyped and a total of 683 bp of mitochondrial DNA sequenced in 70 individuals. Snow leopards exhibited low genetic diversity at microsatellites (A N = 5.8, H O = 0.433, H E = 0.568), virtually no mtDNA variation, and underwent a bottleneck in the Holocene (∼8000 years ago) coinciding with increased temperatures, precipitation, and upward treeline shift in the Tibetan Plateau. Multiple analyses supported 3 primary genetic clusters: (1) Northern (the Altai region), (2) Central (core Himalaya

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Range-Wide Snow Leopard Phylogeography Supports Three Subspecies

Janečka

Zhang

et al. 2017

Journal of Heredity

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“…To convert abundance estimates to density from our genetic data, we buffered sample locations with MMDM as well as ½-MMDM [3,47], which can be conceptualized as a proxy for home range radius. We then used the sum of the resulting buffers to estimate ESA [3,19]. For our camera trapping data, both the MMDM and the ½-MMDM buffer areas were larger than the area of the entire island, so we instead used island area (15.432 km 2 ) as our ESA for estimating density.…”

Section: Density Estimationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, most noninvasive genetics studies have only estimated abundance and not population density [1,19,20]. Abundance by itself is a less valuable parameter for conservation, as it makes comparisons with other studies and other populations difficult [1].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of Noninvasive Genetics and Camera Trapping for Estimating Population Density of Ocelots(Leopardus Pardalis)on Barro Colorado Island, Panama

Rodgers

Giacalone

Heske

et al. 2014

Tropical Conservation Science

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Estimates of population density are essential for the effective conservation and management of any threatened species. Accurately estimating density of elusive carnivores can be a challenge, however. One approach to this challenge is integration of DNA collected noninvasively from feces with capture-recapture modeling. To date, the bias and precision of this technique have seldom been evaluated in the field. We compared density estimates of ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) derived from fecal noninvasive genetic techniques to density estimates from camera trapping in the same population, during the same study period. Density estimates from the two techniques were comparable, especially when using spatially explicit capture-recapture models. Population density estimated using the program DENSITY was 1.74/km 2 (SE = 0.584) from noninvasive genetics and 1.59/km 2 (SE = 0.464) from camera trapping. These estimates also represent the highest reported ocelot population density within the species range.

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Sampling bias in snow leopard population estimation studies

et al. 2019

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Accurate assessments of the status of threatened species and their conservation planning require reliable estimation of their global populations and robust monitoring of local population trends. We assessed the adequacy and suitability of studies in reliably estimating the global snow leopard (Panthera uncia) population. We compiled a dataset of all the peer-reviewed published literature on snow leopard population estimation. Metadata analysis showed estimates of snow leopard density to be a negative exponential function of area, suggesting that study areas have generally been too small for accurate density estimation, and sampling has often been biased towards the best habitats. Published studies are restricted to six of the 12 range countries, covering only 0.3-0.9% of the presumed global range of the species. Re-sampling of camera trap data from a relatively large study site (c.1684 km 2 ) showed that small-sized study areas together with a bias towards good quality habitats in existing studies may have overestimated densities by up to five times. We conclude that current information is biased and inadequate for generating a reliable global population estimate of snow leopards. To develop a rigorous and useful baseline and to avoid pitfalls, there is an urgent need for (a) refinement of sampling and analytical protocols for population estimation of snow leopards (b) agreement and coordinated use of standardized sampling protocols amongst researchers and governments across the range, and (c) sampling larger and under-represented areas of the snow leopard's global range.

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Comparison of noninvasive genetic and camera-trapping techniques for surveying snow leopards

Cited by 89 publications

References 46 publications

Range-Wide Snow Leopard Phylogeography Supports Three Subspecies

Range-Wide Snow Leopard Phylogeography Supports Three Subspecies

Comparison of Noninvasive Genetics and Camera Trapping for Estimating Population Density of Ocelots(Leopardus Pardalis)on Barro Colorado Island, Panama

Sampling bias in snow leopard population estimation studies

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