The mountain ungulates of Ladakh, India

Fox, Joseph L.; Nurbu, Chering; Chundawat, Raghunandan S.

doi:10.1016/0006-3207(91)90118-s

Cited by 68 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Barley and less often oat is cultivated on a small scale up to 4,700 m. Synanthropic vegetation includes plant assemblages developed on eutrophicated ground by stables of domestic animals and near villages up to 5,400 m above sea level. Steppe and alpine turf vegetation is grazed by sheep, goats and yaks up to 5,600 m. The grazing effect of wild ungulates seems to be negligible due to the low densities of most species (Fox et al 1991;Mallon 1991). During recent decades the region has been characterised by continuous overgrazing due to high numbers of domestic sheep, goats and yaks (Jina 1995;Holzner and Kriechbaum 1998).…”

Section: Study Regionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Clonal splitters and integrators in harsh environments of the Trans-Himalaya

Klimeš

2007

Evol Ecol

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Individuals of clonal plants consist of physically and physiologically connected ramets. In splitters, they are integrated for a time shorter than ramet generation time (i.e. the time it takes to produce the first offspring ramet), whereas in integrators connections between ramets persist for a longer time. It has been predicted that integrators should prevail in stressful environments, such as habitats poor in nutrients, whereas splitters are expected to dominate in benign habitats, such as fertile areas with a moderate climate. I tested these predictions in four dry mountain areas of the Trans-Himalaya, in high altitudes subjected to multiple stresses. In accordance with the expectations I found that clonal plants with integrated ramets reach higher mean and maximum altitudes than splitters. Integrators were over-represented in nutrient-poor habitats, such as dry semi-deserts, sandy steppes and in subnival habitats, whereas splitters preferentially colonised mesic habitats, saline sites and wetlands. While there was no difference in the representation of splitters and integrators in habitats with an unstable surface, such as screes, dunes and water bodies, fully integrated clonal plants preferred very stable environments, such as banks of streams covered by closed-canopy vegetation. Most relationships between clonal integration and environmental factors were explainable by the phylogenetic relationship between the species, only the significant preference of splitters for shaded environments persisted in phylogenetically corrected analysis. The results indicate that clonal integration belongs to a set of evolutionarily conservative plant traits, usually shared by related species. Consequently, the adaptive value of clonal integration in individual habitats remains questionable.

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Section: Study Regionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Clonal splitters and integrators in harsh environments of the Trans-Himalaya

Klimeš

2007

Evol Ecol

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“…1). However, by the early 1980s excessive hunting had reduced this range to c. 1,000 km 2 (Fox et al, 1991). Although hunting was brought under control by the late 1980s, gazelle populations did not recover (Chundawat & Qureshi, 1999).…”

Section: Decline Of the Tibetan Gazelle Procapra Picticaudata In Ladamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We estimate the gazelle population in Kalang Tar Tar to be c. 30 based on our sightings (a maximum of 17 individuals in four groups seen during April 2003) and Burrard (1925) and Stockley (1936), and that in the 1980s is based on Ranjitsinh (1981) and Fox et al (1991). The inset indicates the position of the main map on the border between India and China.…”

Section: Decline Of the Tibetan Gazelle Procapra Picticaudata In Ladamentioning

confidence: 99%

Decline of the Tibetan gazelle Procapra picticaudata in Ladakh, India

Bhatnagar¹,

Wangchuk²,

Mishra

2006

Oryx

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The Tibetan gazelle Procapra picticaudata is endemic to the Tibetan plateau. In the Ladakh region of northern India its range declined from c. 20,000 km2 in the early 1900s to c. 1,000 km2 in the late 1980s. Here we report the results of our recent (1999–2003) assessments of the gazelle's conservation status in Ladakh. Range-wide surveys indicate that the present population of the Tibetan gazelle in Ladakh is c. 50, restricted to a range of c. 100 km2. Populations in the Tso Kar basin and Dungti have gone extinct within the past decade. Throughout the last century hunting was the primary cause of the gazelle's decline. Although hunting has been brought under control in the last two decades, intensified livestock grazing appears to have prevented the gazelle's recovery and may be precipitating further declines. The species needs immediate, participatory conservation management, as well as a reassessment of its IUCN Red List status.

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“…Tibetan wolves (Canis lupus chanco) occasionally prey on kiangs, but they occur in small numbers in the Tso Kar basin (Pfister 2004). An estimated 250 kiangs inhabit the area on a yearly basis (Fox et al 1991).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Foraging behaviour at multiple temporal scales in a wild alpine equid

St-Louis

Côté

2011

Oecologia

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Forage abundance, forage quality, and social factors are key elements of the foraging ecology of wild herbivores. For non-ruminant equids, forage-limited environments are likely to impose severe constraints on their foraging behaviour. We used a multi-scale approach to study foraging behaviour in kiang (Equus kiang), a wild equid inhabiting the high-altitude rangelands of the Tibetan Plateau. Using behavioural observations and vegetation sampling, we first assessed how patterns of plant abundance and quality affected (i) the instantaneous forage intake rate (fine scale) and (ii) the proportion of time spent foraging (coarse scale) across seasons. We also tested whether foraging behaviour differed among group types, between sex in adults, and between females of different reproductive status. At a fine scale, intake rate increased linearly with bite size and increased following a type II curvilinear function with biomass on feeding sites. Forage intake rate also increased linearly with plant quality. Male and female kiangs had similar intake rates. Likewise, gravid and lactating females had similar intake rates as barren and non-lactating females. At a coarse scale, kiangs spent longer time feeding in mesic than in xeric habitats, and spent more time feeding in early summer and fall than in late summer. Groups of adults with foals spent less time feeding than male groups and groups of adults without foals. Our findings suggest that kiangs use flexible foraging behaviours in relation to seasonal variations of vegetation quality and abundance, a likely outcome of the extreme seasonal conditions encountered on the Tibetan Plateau.

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The mountain ungulates of Ladakh, India

Cited by 68 publications

References 4 publications

Clonal splitters and integrators in harsh environments of the Trans-Himalaya

Clonal splitters and integrators in harsh environments of the Trans-Himalaya

Decline of the Tibetan gazelle Procapra picticaudata in Ladakh, India

Foraging behaviour at multiple temporal scales in a wild alpine equid

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