Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA
COLLEGE OF FORESTRY AND CONSERVATION
MISSOULA,MT 59812
Performing Department
College of Forestry and Conservation
Non Technical Summary
China's Tibetan plateau. There is widespread agreement that substantial portions of the fragile plateau grasslands are degraded, but no consensus on the cause of degradation or how it can be reversed. Most scientists believe that recent changes in livestock management have led to a downward spiral in rangeland condition, which in turn has benefited pikas (which thrive in degraded grasslands, Bian et al. 1999, Fan et al. 1999). In contrast, government policies cast pikas as the villain, explaining their large populations as causing, rather than resulting from, degraded grasslands. Government programs have thus focused on pika poisoning; a recent press release announced an expensive new initiative aimed at further poisoning of pikas in Qinghai province. But pikas are central to a complex web of wild species (Smith and Harris 2004); their absence likely has a cascading effect on other species (Smith and Foggin 1999). To date, study of the relationship between pikas and their predators has been lacking. The Tibetan fox (Vulpes ferrilata) is endemic to the Tibetan plateau (Clark et al. 2008), and is thought to be an obligate predator on pikas (Harris 2007, Harris et al. 2008, Liu et al. 2010). In addition to their inherent value, Tibetan foxes have traditional value in Tibetan culture, use in traditional Tibetan clothing, and are also involved in disease transmission. A number of other mammalian carnivores prey on pikas, and their distribution and abundance may be a function of the presence and abundance of pikas (Smith and Harris 2004, Xu et al. 2007). These include (roughly from largest to smallest) brown bear (Ursus arctos), wolf (Canis lupus), lynx (Lynx lynx), dhole (Cuon alpinus), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), Eurasian badger (Meles meles), Tibetan fox (Vulpes ferrilata), mountain cat (Felis bieti), Pallas' cat (Otocolobus manul), steppe polecat (Mustela eversmannii), and Altai weasel (Mustela altaica). If the distribution or abundance of pikas is altered by human activity, it is likely that the distribution, abundance, or behavior of at least some of these species may also be affected. These changes can have positive or negative effects on human livelihoods. This study will quantify the relationship between Tibetan fox and other mammalian carnivore use of the landscape and pika density and distribution, thus furthering our understanding of the biological relationship between these species. In so doing, it will provide important insights into how these mammalian carnivores may interact with people, their livestock, and their livelihoods. Our project fits within DZF priority areas because: 1) It deals with a keystone species, the plateau pika (Smith and Foggin 1999); 2) It links biological and social disciplines; 3) It addresses a biodiversity issue that is rooted in socioeconomic and/or political causes; 4) It involves training a young and local conservation scientist; 5) It takes place in central Asia, one of DZF's focal areas of geographic interest; and 6) The project takes an ecosystem-level approach.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Building on similar work done for avian species (Chien and Smith 2007), estimate the degree to which various mammalian carnivores of the Tibetan plateau are dependent on the presence of plateau pikas. Specific Objectives: 1.) Quantify the probability of occupancy (MacKenzie et al. 2006) for each Tibetan plateau carnivore as a function of pika presence and the history of pika poisoning (while considering other candidate covariates). Carnivores to consider (roughly from largest to smallest) will include: brown bear (Ursus arctos), wolf (Canis lupus), lynx (Lynx lynx), dhole (Cuon alpinus), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), Eurasian badger (Meles meles), Tibetan fox (Vulpes ferrilata), mountain cat (Felis bieti), Pallas' cat (Otocolobus manul), steppe polecat (Mustela eversmannii), and Altai weasel (Mustela altaica).; 2.) For relatively abundant carnivore species, abundance as a function of pika presence and the history of pika poisoning (while considering other candidate covariates) will be estimated using distance sampling (Buckland et al. 1993).; 3.) Estimate diets of these plateau carnivores as a function of pika presence and the history of pika poisoning.
Project Methods
At each site, 3 days and 2 nights will be spent documenting presence of carnivores (through collection of scats), and indexing the abundance of small mammals. The first day will be spent defining and mapping the extent of the site (using a hand-held GPS). Once a rough map of the boundaries of the site has been drawn (boundaries will be drawn at either marked discontinuities in cover type, land-type, or soil type, or if no such discontinuities are evident, at the further extent of practical daily surveying) 2 replicate surveys on successive days will be conducted. Carnivores are rare, and when present, not easily detected. Thus, we will depend on collection of feces (scats) to document their presence at each site. Surveys will consist of walking systematically placed transects, each of 2-5 km. Carnivore scats will be tallied (including their perpendicular distance from the transect line) and collected. Pika burrows and their perpendicular distances (up to 3 m from the center line) will be documented. An index of small mammal abundance (other than pikas) will be obtained by setting out a set number of snap traps during each of the 2 nights on site, and tallying small mammals by species. We will use occupancy modeling (MacKenzie et al. 2007) to quantify relationships between pika presence (or abundance) and the presence of each carnivore species. For relatively more abundant species, we will use distance sampling (Buckland et al. 1993) to quantify relationships between pika abundance and carnivore abundance.