What are snow leopards really eating? Identifying bias in food-habit studies

Weiskopf, Sarah R.; Kachel, Shannon; McCarthy, Kyle P.

doi:10.1002/wsb.640

Cited by 29 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…All these results are very different from ours. However, these studies most likely overestimated the importance of small prey [66], because none of them used genetic methods for identifying the depositor of the scat and studies solely based on visual identification of samples may be strongly biased. Actually, our molecular analyses revealed that as much as 50% of the scats collected, which looked like snow leopard scats, in fact belonged to other carnivores, which is a number similar to that reported in other studies [21, 23, 26, 39, 67].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diet and prey selection by snow leopards in the Nepalese Himalayas

2018

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Visual attractiveness and rarity often results in large carnivores being adopted as flagship species for stimulating conservation awareness. Their hunting behaviour and prey selection can affect the population dynamics of their prey, which in turn affects the population dynamics of these large carnivores. Therefore, our understanding of their trophic ecology and foraging strategies is important for predicting their population dynamics and consequently for developing effective conservation programs. Here we concentrate on an endangered species of carnivores, the snow leopard, in the Himalayas. Most previous studies on snow leopard diet lack information on prey availability and/or did not genetically check, whether the identification of snow leopard scats is correct, as their scats are similar to those of other carnivores. We studied the prey of snow leopard in three Himalayan regions in Nepal (Sagarmatha National Park (SNP), Lower Mustang (LM) and Upper Manang (UM) in the Annapurna Conservation Area, during winter and summer in 2014–2016. We collected 268 scats along 139.3 km linear transects, of which 122 were genetically confirmed to belong to snow leopard. Their diet was identified by comparing hairs in scats with our reference collection of the hairs of potential prey. We determined prey availability using 32–48 camera-traps and 4,567 trap nights. In the SNP, the most frequent prey in snow leopard faeces was the Himalayan tahr in both winter and summer. In LM and UM, its main prey was blue sheep in winter, but yak and goat in summer. In terms of relative biomass consumed, yak was the main prey everywhere in both seasons. Snow leopard preferred large prey and avoided small prey in summer but not in winter, with regional differences. It preferred domestic to wild prey only in winter, and in SNP. Unlike most other studies carried out in the same area, our study uses genetic methods for identifying the source of the scat. Studies solely based on visual identification of samples may be strongly biased. Diet studies based on frequency of occurrence of prey tend to overestimate the importance of small prey, which may be consumed more often, but contribute less energy than large prey. However, even assessments based on prey biomass are unlikely to be accurate as we do not know whether the actual size of the prey consumed corresponds to the average size used to calculate the biomass eaten. For example, large adults may be too difficult to catch and therefore mostly young animals are consumed, whose weight is much lower. We show that snow leopard consumes a diverse range of prey, which varies both regionally and seasonally. We conclude that in order to conserve snow leopards it is also necessary to conserve its main wild species of prey, which will reduce the incidence of losses of livestock.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diet and prey selection by snow leopards in the Nepalese Himalayas

2018

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“…In fact, this seasonal signature in diet variability is present throughout the terrestrial ecosystems, where a continuous adjustment of diet to seasonal fluctuation of resource availability is observed (from lizards to larger mammals; e.g., Bergmann et al, ; Kartzinel & Pringle, ). DNA metabarcoding has also been able to clarify the feeding ecology of terrestrial elusive species, for example, in the case of the snow leopard Panthera uncia (Shehzad, McCarthy, et al, ; Weiskopf, Kachel, & McCarthy, ) and that of large African mammalian herbivores, for which the diet composition was found to strongly differ across newly identified cryptic species, irrespective of feeding guild (Kartzinel et al, ). Ultimately, there was also an increased value of metabarcoding approaches to study the feeding ecology of endangered species, where the accurate description of dietary habits is crucial to the design and enforcement of conservation and management strategies.…”

Section: Confirmation Of Terrestrial Dietary Preferences and A Paradimentioning

confidence: 99%

DNA metabarcoding in diet studies: Unveiling ecological aspects in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems

2019

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Effective conservation of species and ecosystems requires the understanding of important ecological traits, such as dietary habits, food webs, and trophic niches. In diet studies, the visual identification of partially digested prey has been enhanced with the recent more powerful and accurate technique, DNA barcoding. Here, we summarize the contribution of this recent methodology to the investigation of both terrestrial and aquatic taxa diet, and compare the level of novelty uncovered through the use of this technique regarding species' ecology. From a total of 150 studies analyzed, focusing on more than 250 vertebrate wild species, seven domesticated taxa, and humans, we suggest that barcoding has led to more significant findings for aquatic taxa and ecosystems, where direct observations of feeding events and consequent trophic niche understanding are typically limited. Finally, we introduce the term dietary DNA (dDNA) to describe environmental approaches that use DNA extracted from gut, stomach, or fecal contents, aiming to assess both species dietary habits and describe local biodiversity. Particularly, we highlight the complementarity of environmental DNA (eDNA) and dDNA as a new tool for biodiversity assessments in remote areas, including most of the aquatic realm.

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“…Misidentification in predator's identity from scat, due to the presence of co-predators, can introduce bias in estimating diets (Weiskopf et al 2016). We relied on several facts and precautions as lines of evidence in order to reduce or eliminate any potential bias.…”

Section: Predator Identitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Change in snow leopard predation on livestock after revival of wild prey in the Trans-Himalaya

2019

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Human–wildlife conflict arising from livestock‐losses to large carnivores is an important challenge faced by conservation. Theory of prey–predator interactions suggests that revival of wild prey populations can reduce predator's dependence on livestock in multiple‐use landscapes. We explore whether 10‐years of conservation efforts to revive wild prey could reduce snow leopard's Panthera uncia consumption of livestock in the coupled human‐and‐natural Trans‐Himalayan ecosystem of northern India. Starting in 2001, concerted conservation efforts at one site (intervention) attempted recovery of wild‐prey populations by creating livestock‐free reserves, accompanied with other incentives (e.g. insurance, vigilant herding). Another site, 50km away, was monitored as status quo without any interventions. Prey remains in snow leopard scats were examined periodically at five‐year intervals between 2002 and 2012 to determine any temporal shift in diet at both sites to evaluate the effectiveness of conservation interventions. Consumption of livestock increased at the status quo site, while it decreased at the intervention‐site. At the intervention‐site, livestock‐consumption reduced during 2002–2007 (by 17%, p=0.06); this effect was sustained during the next five‐year interval, and it was accompanied by a persistent increase in wild prey populations. Here we also noted increased predator populations, likely due to immigration into the study area. Despite the increase in the predator population, there was no increase in livestock‐consumption. In contrast, under status quo, dependence on livestock increased during both five‐year intervals (by 7%, p=0.08, and by 16%, p=0.01, respectively). These contrasts between the trajectories of the two sites suggest that livestock‐loss can potentially be reduced through the revival of wild prey. Further, accommodating counter‐factual scenarios may be an important step to infer whether conservation efforts achieve their targets, or not.

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What are snow leopards really eating? Identifying bias in food-habit studies

Cited by 29 publications

References 44 publications

Diet and prey selection by snow leopards in the Nepalese Himalayas

Diet and prey selection by snow leopards in the Nepalese Himalayas

DNA metabarcoding in diet studies: Unveiling ecological aspects in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems

Change in snow leopard predation on livestock after revival of wild prey in the Trans-Himalaya

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