Satellite tracking of Mongolian gazelles (Procapra gutturosa) and habitat shifts in their seasonal ranges

Abstract

Conservation and management are urgently required for Mongolian gazelles Procapra gutturosa inhabiting the Mongolian steppe. We captured and satellitecollared two adult females in Dornogobi Province and two adult females in Omnogobi Province and examined whether their seasonal migration corresponded to shifts in the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in their habitat. The mean NDVI values of their annual, summer and winter ranges were calculated based on data acquired by the moderate-resolution imaging spectrometer (MODIS) onboard the Terra satellite. Satellite tracking of gazelles proved their ability to move long distances and provided details of their migration routes. In Omnogobi, the NDVI of the summer range was higher than those of annual and winter ranges during summer, but from October to November the NDVI of the summer range was lower than annual or winter ranges. The shift in NDVI values between summer and winter ranges corresponded with seasonal migrations of gazelles. In contrast, NDVI values were higher in the winter ranges than in both the summer and annual ranges throughout the year in Dornogobi. The results showed that the NDVI is a good indicator of gazelle habitat, but the NDVI alone cannot the explain seasonal migration of gazelles. It is important to evaluate the effectiveness and limitations of the NDVI as an indicator of habitat quality.

The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI): unforeseen successes in animal ecology

“…For example, at broader scales, shifts in relative NDVI distribution can explain movement to and from seasonal ranges (e.g. Ito et al 2006). On finer scales NDVI may be used to trace habitat choices of single individuals at a particular movement step (Hebblewhite et al 2008).…”

Habitat Fragmentation by Railways as a Barrier to Great Migrations of Ungulates in Mongolia

“…For instance, Argos systems and GPS with satellite communication systems have been used to track wild ungulates in Mongolia (Kaczensky et al 2010). We showed that Mongolian gazelles moved distances greater than 300 km (the maximum linear distance between two locations traveled by one individual gazelle in a year) and changed their range seasonally (Ito et al 2006(Ito et al , 2013b. The gazelles moved more than 100 km per week during some periods of the year, whereas the distances moved were short in other periods.…”

“…Similarly, during a drought period in September 2005, Olson et al (2009a) reported a mega-herd of more than 200,000 gazelles in areas with a high probability of gazelle occurrence predicted by a NDVI-based model. In the southeastern Gobi, the shifts in NDVI values between the summer and winter ranges explained the gazelles' seasonal movements (Ito et al 2006), and interannual differences in the spatial distribution of NDVI explained the interannual differences in the seasonal range of the tracked gazelles (Ito et al 2013b). The interannual differences in locations were much larger in winter than in summer, likely because of the large differences in the spatial distribution of snow cover.…”

“…We first conducted satellite tracking of Mongolian gazelles in 2002 (Ito et al 2005(Ito et al , 2006. In October 2002, two female gazelles were captured on the southwestern side of the railway and collared with a satellite transmitter.…”

Migration timing and stopover selection for barnacle geese Branta leucopsis

“…The NDVI can be used to show spatial and temporal trends in vegetation dynamics, productivity, and distribution, and therefore can be a useful tool to investigate the interaction between vegetation and animal activity, including migration (Ito et al, 2006).…”