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EXPEDITION
REPORT
Expedition dates:
8 June
–
8 August 2015
Report published:
July
2016
Mountain ghosts:
protecting
s
now
leopards and other animals of
the
Tien Shan
mountains of
Kyrgyzstan
.
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organis
ation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the United Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union
for
the
Conservation
of Nature
1
EXPEDITION
REPORT
Mountain ghosts: protecting snow leopards and other
animals of the Tien Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan
Expedition dates:
8 June
–
8 August 2015
Report published:
July
2016
Authors:
Volodymyr Tytar
I.I Schmalhausen Institu
te of Zoology
of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Amadeus DeKastle
Plateau Perspectives
Matthias Hammer
(editor)
Biosphere Expeditions
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organis
ation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the United Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union
for
the
Conservation
of Nature
2
Abstract
This study was part of an expedition to the Tien Shan Mountains (Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too range), run
by
Biosphere Expeditions and NABU from 8 June to 8 August 2015 with the aim of surveying
for snow leopard (
Uncia uncia
) and its prey species. Using a cell methodology adopted by
Biosphere Expeditions for volunteer expeditions, 56 cells of 2x2 km were surveyed
and 22
interviews with local people were conducted. Twenty butterfly species not previously known to
occur in the area were also recorded. Previous expeditions indicated that snow leopard was
present in the survey area. In 2015 prolonged and continuous sn
ow cover considerably raised
the efficacy of the research, resulting in the discovery of fresh signs of snow leopard presence
and confirming the importance of the study area as a habitat for the predator. The surveys also
showed that the area’s habitat is
sufficiently varied and capable of sustaining a healthy prey
base for the snow leopard and other carnivores such as the wolf. Potential prey species are
Siberian ibex, marmot and snowcock; in 2015 there was no trace of argali. Enough location
data on Siber
ian ibex enabled its distribution to be modelled against climatic and topogra
p
hic
variables. Poaching, overgrazing and other disturbances are serious issues that must be
addressed in order to avoid habitat impoverishment and with it the loss of the snow le
opard.
On the other hand, local people are overwhelmingly in favour of snow leopard presence and
receptive to creating economic incentives based on intact nature and snow leopard presence.
To that end, Biosphere Expeditions and NABU will continue with the
annual research
expeditions to the area, seeking to conduct further surveys and involving local people in this,
as well as the search for economic benefits and incentives to maintaining habitat health and
with it snow leopard presence.
Резюме
Т
ө
м
ө
нд
ө
г
ү
изилд
өө
Тянь
-
Шань (Кыргыз Ала
-
Тоо) тоолорунда
ө
тк
ө
р
ү
лг
ө
н экспедициянын
бир б
ө
л
ү
г
ү
болуп эсептелет.
Бул экспедиция Биосфералык экспедиция жана
NABU
тарабынан 2015
-
жылы 8
-
июндан 8
-
августка чейин
ө
тк
ө
р
ү
л
ү
п, максаты ак
-
илбирстин
жашаган ч
ө
йр
ө
с
ү
н жана тоют баз
асына баа бер
үү
болуп эсептелген
.
Биосфералык
экспедиция уюму тарабынан иштелип чыккан координаттык торчо методун картага
колдонуп, волонтёрлор менен бирге илимий практикалык ж
ү
з
ү
нд
ө 56
полигон (аянты 2х2
км) изилденип жана 22 жергиликт
үү
жашоочулардан сур
амжылоо ж
ү
рг
ү
з
ү
лг
ө
н.
Мурда
бул региондо аныкталбаган к
ү
нд
ү
зг
ү
учкан к
ө
п
ө
л
ө
кт
ө
рд
ү
н 20 т
ү
р
ү
тизмеге кирген.
Жергиликт
үү
калкка ж
ү
рг
ү
з
ү
лг
ө
н сурамжылоонун негизинде малга кол салуу фактылары
билинип, тегеректе ак илбирстин жашаганы аныкталган.
2015
-
жылы жа
аган кардын
ү
ст
ү
н
ө
ак илбирстин издери т
ү
ш
ү
п, ак илбирстин ошол жерге келип кеткени дагы бир
аныкталган.
Ошонун негизинде региондун бул жаныбарга маанил
үү
экени белгиленген.
Изилд
өө
л
ө
рд
ү
н негизинде аныкталган область биологиялык жактан ар т
ү
рд
үү
экени
жана
анын тоют базасы болуп эсептелген тоо теке, суур, улардын бар экени аныкталган;
бул жылы аркар кулжа байкалган жок.
Бирок ошол жерде тоо текенин ж
ү
рг
ө
н
фактылары жетишт
үү
аныкталып,климат жана топографиянын байланышынын
негизинде модельдин т
ү
з
ү
л
ү
ш
ү
н
ө ө
б
ө
лг
ө
т
ү
з
ү
л
ө
т.
Браконьерчилик,
ө
с
ү
мд
ү
кт
ө
рд
ү
н
ү
ст
ү
нк
ү
катмарынын бузулушу жана башкалар чо
ң
к
ө
йг
ө
й жаратып, ак илбирстин
жоголуп кетишине жана ал жашаган ареалынын бузулуп кетишине
ө
б
ө
лг
ө
т
ү
з
ө
т.
Жергиликт
үү
калктын бул жаныбарга болгон мамилеси позитивд
үү.
Ош
ондуктан,
Биосфералык экспедиция жана
NABU
уюму бул изилд
өө
л
ө
рд
ү
улантып, жапайы
жаныбарлардын санын аныктоо максатында иш алып барат; жергиликт
үү
калк менен
бирге ак илбирсти экономикалык факторду эске алуу менен аны сактап калуунун
жолдору изделип келе
т.
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organis
ation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the United Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union
for
the
Conservation
of Nature
3
Резюме
Настоящее исследование является частью экспедиции в горах Тянь
-
Шаня (Кыргыз Ала
-
Тоо),
организованного Биосферной экспедицией совместно с НАБУ с 8 июня по 8 августа 2015
года, с целью определения наличия снежного барса и оценки его потенциал
ьной кормовой
базы.
Применив методику координатной сетки на карте, разработанной Биосферной
экспедицией для проведения научно
-
практического исследования совместно с
волонтерами, было исследовано 56 полигонов (размером 2х2 км) и был проведен опрос у
22 м
естных жителей.
Получен также список 20 видов дневных бабочек, не ранее
отмеченных в данном регионе.
Опросы местного населения и факты нападения на скот
подтвердили присутствие снежных барсов в окрестностях.
В 2015 г. снежный покров
способствовал тому, чт
о удалось обнаружить свежие следы пребывания снежного барса.
Таким образом, получено подтверждение значимость региона для обитания этого хищника.
Исследования показали, что изученная область является биоразнообразной и в наличии
имеется кормовая база снежн
ого барса (горные козлы, сурки, улары); аргали в этом году не
отмечены.
Имеющиеся наблюдения по горному козлу позволили с учетом ряда факторов
окружающей среды промоделировать его распространение в регионе; интересно, что
предсказанные моделью наиболее бла
гоприятные для вида территории близко сопали с
теми, где были обнаружены следы барса.
Браконьерство, уничтожение растительного
покрова и другие нарушения являются серьезной проблемой, способствуют локальному
вымиранию снежного барса и ухудшают среду его об
итания.
С другой стороны, отношение
местного населения к этой кошке положительное.
В связи с этим, Биосферная экспедиция и
NABU
продолжат исследования с целью определения численности диких животных;
совместно с населением будут осуществлен поиск путей сох
ранения снежного барса как
вида с учетом экономических факторов.
Zusammenfassung
Diese Studie war Teil einer Expedition in das Tien
-
Shan
-
Gebirge Kirgisiens (Ala
-
Too Bergkette),
durchgeführt von Biosphere Expeditions und dem NABU vom 8.
Juni bis 8. August
2015 mit dem
Ziel ein Gutachten über den Schneeleoparden (
Uncia uncia
) und dessen Beutetiere zu erstellen.
Als Basis diente eine von Biosphere Expeditions angepasste Zellenmethodik, bei der 56 Zellen
von 2 x 2 km Größe untersucht und 22 Interviews mit der
einheimischen Bevölkerung
durchgefuehrt wurden.
Außerdem wurde eine Liste von 20 in der Region vorkommenden
Schmetterlingarten erstellt.
Daten, die in vorangegangenen Expeditionen gesammelt wurden,
gaben Hinweise darauf, dass der Schneeleopard im Studieng
ebiet vorkommt.
Die im Jahr 2015
lange vorhandene geschlossene Schneedecke erhöhte die Spurenfindungs
-
Effektivität der
Forschungsarbeit beträchtlich: Frische Schneeleoparden Spuren wurden gefunden und damit
bestätigt, dass es sich beim Studiengebiet um ein
wichtiges Habitat des Schneeleoparden handelt.
Die Forschungen zeigten auch, dass das Habitat im Studiengebiet variabel genug ist und alle
Voraussetzungen für eine gesunde Beutetierpopulation, sowie andere Karnivoren, wie z.B. den
Wolf erfüllt.
Potenziell
e Beutetiere sind der sibirische Steinbock, das Murmeltier und die
Schneehenne.
2015 wurden keine Spuren vom Bergschaf gefunden.
Andererseits gab es genug
Steinbock
-
Positionsdaten, um Verbreitungsmodelle der Art in Relation zu Klima und Topographie
entwick
eln zu können.
Weiters sind Wilderei, Überweidung und andere negative Einflüsse
ernstzunehmende Störfaktoren, die es im Auge zu behalten gilt, um eine Verödung des
Lebensraumes und das damit einhergehende Verschwinden des Schneeleoparden zu verhindern.
And
ererseits ist die Akzeptanz des Schneeleoparden bei der einheimischen Bevölkerung hoch und
die Menschen sind sehr empfänglich dafür, ökonomische Massnahmen zu kreieren und
umzusetzen, die auf beidem basieren: Einer intakten Natur und dem Schneeleopard in f
reier
Wildbahn. Biosphere Expeditions und der NABU werden die alljährlichen Expeditionen ins
Studiengebiet weiterführen, mit dem Ziel noch mehr Daten zu sammeln, die lokale Bevölkerung
einzubeziehen und nach wirtschaftlichem Nutzen sowie Massnahmen zu such
en, die einen
intakten Lebensraum und damit einhergehenddas Vorkommen von Schneeleoparden sichern.
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organis
ation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the United Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union
for
the
Conservation
of Nature
4
Contents
Abstract
/ Резюме
2
Резюме / Zusammenfassung
3
Contents
4
1. Expedition Review
5
1.1. Background
5
1.2. Research area
5
1.3. Dates
6
1.4. Local conditions & support
7
1.5.
Expedition
scientist
8
1.6. Expedition leader
s
9
1.7. Expedition team
9
1.8. Acknowledgements
10
1.9. Further Information & enquiries
10
1.10
. Expedition budget
11
2. Monitoring
snow leopards
…
12
2
.1. Introduction
12
2.2
. Materials & methods
18
2.3
. Results
29
2.4
. Discussion and
conclusions
53
2.5
. Literature cited
5
7
3
.
Butterflies of the Suusamyr Valley, Kyrgyzstan
61
3
.1. Introduction
61
3.2
. Materials & methods
61
3.3
. Results
6
2
3.4.
Discussion and conclusions
83
3.5
.
Resources
8
3
Appendix I:
List of bird
species recorded during the 2015
expedition
8
4
Appendix II: Revised community questionnaire
85
Appendix II: Expedition diary and reports
8
9
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organis
ation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the United Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union
for
the
Conservation
of Nature
5
Please note: Ea
ch expedition report is written as a stand
-
alone document that can be read
without having to refer back to previous reports. As such, much of this
and other
section
s,
which remain
valid and relevant,
are
a repetition from previous reports, copied here to
p
rovide the reader with an uninterrupted flow of argument and rationale.
1. Expedition Review
M. Hammer (editor)
Biosphere Expeditions
1.1. Background
Biosphere Expeditions runs wildlife conservation research expeditions to all corners of the
Earth. Our
projects are not tours, photographic safaris or excursions, but genuine research
expeditions placing ordinary people with no research experience alongside scientists who
are at the forefront of conservation work. Our expeditions are open to all and there
are no
special skills (biological or otherwise) required to join. Our expedition team members are
people from all walks of life, of all ages, looking for an adventure with a conscience and a
sense of purpose. More information about Biosphere Expeditions an
d its research
expeditions can be found at
www.biosphere
-
expeditions.org
.
This project report deals with an expedition to the
Tien Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan
(Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too Range)
that ran from
8 June
to 8 August 2015
with the
aim
of survey
ing
snow leopards as well as their prey species such as argali (a mountain sheep) and the
Central Asian ibex. The expedition also survey
ed
other animals such as marmots, birds
and small mammals, and work
ed
with the lo
cal anti
-
poaching patrol “группы барс” (snow
leopard group “Grupa Bars”) and other local people on capacity
-
building and incentive
creation projects.
Little is known about the status and distribution of the globally endangered snow leopard in
the area and
its interaction with prey animals such as the Tien Shan argali and Central
Asian ibex, and its reliance on smaller prey such as marmots, ground squirrels and game
birds.
Biosphere Expeditions will provide vital data on these issues, which can then be
used
in the formulation of management and protection plans. The expedition also worked
with locals in an effort to build capacity, educate and involve local people in snow leopard
conservation and generate income through responsible tourism activities.
1.2.
Research area
Kyrgyzstan is a country located in Central Asia and often referred to as the "Switzerland of
Central Asia". Landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the
north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest an
d China to the east. Its capital
and largest city is Bishkek. Kyrgyzstan is further from the sea than any other country and
all its rivers flow into closed drainage systems, which do not reach the sea. The
mountainous region of the Tien Shan covers over 80
% of the country, with the remainder
made up of valleys and basins. The highest peak is Jengish Chokusu (Pik Pobedy)
at
7,439 m and more than half the country is above 2,500 metres. Steppe and alpine
vegetation dominate the landscape; glaciers and
permanen
t
snow cover over 3% of the
country’s total area. The climate in Kyrgyzstan is continental with a small amount of
rainfall.
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organis
ation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the United Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union
for
the
Conservation
of Nature
6
The Kyrg
yz Ala
-
Too (Кыргыз Ала
-
Тоосу, also Kyrgyz Alatau, Kyrgyz Range) is
a large
range in the northern Tien
Shan mountains.
The
range is situated just south
of
the capital
city of Bishkek and the views from the city itself are stunning and form a backdrop
that i
s
unique
in the world.
The
Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too
R
ange
stretches for a total length of 4
54 km from
the west
end of Issyk
-
Kul to the town
of
Taraz in Kazakhstan. It runs in
an
east
-
west
direction, separating
into the Chuy,
Kochkor, Suusamyr and Talas
v
alley
s
. The
western
part of Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too serves as a natural border between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
The range’s highest mountain is
Alamyudyun Peak
at 4
,
855 m.
Figure 1
.2
a.
Map and flag of Kyrgyzstan with study site.
An overview of Biosphere Expeditions
’ research
sites, assembly points, base camp and office
locations is at
Google Map
s
.
The mountains are divided by several river valleys and there is a great variety of
landscape. There are hollows with semi
-
desert landscapes, alpine peaks, narrow river
canyons and broad valleys, highland tundra and deep natural limestone gorges, open
steppes, permanent snow and glaciers and tracts of forest, as well as a multitude of lakes,
wild rivers and waterfalls. Forests of larch, cedar, spruce and pine (but very few deciduous
trees) cover more than a half of the mountain territory.
Many threat
ened animal and plant species, a great number of them endemic, are present
in the area with a recent count showing at least 70 mammal, 376 bird, 44 fish and over
3
,
000 insect species.
Study site
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organis
ation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the United Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union
for
the
Conservation
of Nature
7
The Kyrgyz people are descendants of several different nomadic Turkish
ethnic groups in
Central Asia and were first mentioned in writing in 201 BC. Kyrgyzstan is one of the active
members of the Turkic Council and the TÜRKSOY community. Kyrgyzstan's history is one
of Turkish and Mongol, and more recently Soviet and Russian do
mination. Independence
from the Soviet Union was declared on 31 August 1991 and Kyrgyzstan became, and has
stayed, a unitary parliamentary republic.
1.3. Dates
The project ran over a period of two
months
divided into
four 12
-
day
slots, each composed
of a
team of international research assistants, scientists and an expedition leader. Slot
dates were:
8
-
20 June | 22 June
-
4 July || 13
-
25 July | 27 July
-
8 August
2015
Team members could join for multiple slots (within the periods specified).
1.4. L
ocal conditions & support
Expedition base
The expedition team
worked from a mobile base camp, set up in various valleys on the
southern side of Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too (
see
Fig 2.2.3b
). Base camp consisted
of an assortment
of dome, mess and kitchen, as well as sh
ower tents
and a yurt
(see Fig.
1.4a)
.
All meals
were
pre
pared by the expedition cook
; breakfast and dinner were provided at base and a
lunch pack was supplied for each day spent in the field.
Figure 1.4a.
Base camp with kitch
en and mess tunnel tents,
a yurt and
dome tents for participan
ts. Shower and toilet
tents
are outside the frame
. There is also an expedition lorry for transporting base cam
p
and the expedition 4x4 vehicles.
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organis
ation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the United Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union
for
the
Conservation
of Nature
8
Weather
The
local
climate is temperate continental with short, hot summer
s (during which the
expedition
took
place) and prolonged, cold winters.
Winter
temperatures range from
-
9°C
to
-
45°C,
summer
temperatures from +11°C to +35°C during the day
.
Base camp was in
the mountains at an altitude of 2,700 m (
groups 1 & 2 in
June) an
d 2,900m (
groups
3
&
4
in
July
-
August) and as such the weather was very variable. In June the temperatures
dropped to almost
zero degrees at night, in July
/August it was mostly sunny and hot. Wind
and rain showers occurred frequently
in June,
but only occa
sionally in July/August.
Field communications
The expedition had a satellite phone for emergency communications
.
There were
also
hand
-
held radios for groups working close together.
There was generally no mobile phone
network
.
The expedition leader posted
a
diary with multimedia content on Wordpress
and
excerpts of this were mirrored on Biosphere Expeditions’ social media sites such as
Facebook
and
Google+
.
Transport & vehicles
Team members made their own way to
Bishkek
. From there onwards and back to
Bishkek
all transport was provided f
or the expedition team.
A variety of 4x4 vehicles were rented
from
Almaz Alzhambaev
of
www.carforrent.kg
. Local partner NABU also provided a 4x4
vehicle
and a lorry (see Figure 1.4a).
H
orse
s were rented from local
people as necessary.
Medical support and incidences
The expedition leader
s
were
trained first aider
s
and the expedition carried a
comprehensive medical kit. Further medical support was provided
by
the
Public
F
oundation "Rescue in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan"
,
small district hospital
s
in the town of
Suusamyr (about 40 km from camp
1
)
and Kochkor (about 40 km from camp 2), a large
hospital in Kara
-
Balta and
large
public hospitals and private clinics in Bishkek (
about 140
km and
200 km from camp respectively).
Safety and emergency procedures were in place
and invoked once for a case of acute abdominal pain, which was cleared without any ill
effects for the patient by a visit to Bishkek.
All team members were requ
ired to carry adequate travel insurance covering emergency
medical evacuation and repatriation.
1.5.
Expedition
scientist
Volodymyr
Tytar was born in 1951 and his Master’s Degree in Biology is from Kiev State
University. At that time he first experienced
the Tien Shan mountains and wrote a term
paper on the ecology of the brown bear. He then pursued a career as an invertebrate
zoologist before shifting towards large mammals and management planning for nature
conservation. Apart from
in
Kyrgyzstan, he has
worked with Biosphere Expeditions on
wolves, vipers and jerboas on the Ukraine Black Sea coast, and on snow leopards in the
nearby Altai mountains, and has been involved in surveying and conservation measures
all his professional life.
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organis
ation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the United Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union
for
the
Conservation
of Nature
9
1.6. Expedition le
ader
s
Malika Fettak
(groups 1
–
3)
is half Algerian, but was born and educated in Germany. She
majored in Marketing & Communications and worked for more than a decade in both the
creative department, but also in PR & marketing of a publishing company. Her
love of
nature, travelling and the outdoors (and taking part in a couple of Biosphere expeditions)
showed her that a change of direction was in order. Joining Biosphere Expeditions in
2008, she runs the German
-
speaking operations and the German office and
leads
expeditions all over the world whenever she can. She has travelled extensively, is
multilingual, a qualified off
-
road driver, diver, outdoor first aider, and a keen sportswoman.
Rossella Meloni
(group 4)
was born in Italy and has lived and worked i
n the UK for 12
years before experiencing life further afield by living in Muscat (Sultanate of Oman) and
Seoul (South Korea). Rossella studied languages in Italy and gained a BSc in Computing
and Information Systems from the University of Portsmouth.
Sinc
e her first cautious breath
underwater, well over a decade ago, she has become increasingly interested in the beauty
and welfare of the underwater world. Her love for the marine environment and the
outdoors encouraged her to join her first marine expeditio
n in 2006 spending
six
weeks in
a remote coastal village in Madagascar and later to continue training as PADI Open Water
Diving Instructor. Her passion for diving and nature has led her to volunteer in remote
areas of the world and eventually to lead exped
itions with Biosphere Expeditions.
When
she is not busy tinkering with technology, leading expeditions, volunteering or supporting
environmental causes, she can be found exploring the outdoors and pursuing new
adventures. She is also a City & Guilds traine
d photographer, a RYA competent crew, a
keen kite surfer and a qualified Emergency First Response trainer.
1.7. Expedition team
The expedition team was recruited by Biosphere Expeditions and consisted of a mixture of
all ages, nationalities and backgroun
ds. They were (
in alphabetical order and
with country
of residence):
8
–
20
June
2015
Theresa Bosque
(UK)
, Carolyn Catt
(New Zealand)
, Charlie
Catt
(New Zealand)
, Robert
Christensen
(USA)
, Sue Hughes
(USA)
, Torsten John
(Germany)
. Also
Kathy Gill
(
Strate
gy Adviser
, Biosphere Expeditions).
22 June
–
4 July 2015
Carolyn Catt
(New Zealand)
, Charlie
Catt
(New Zealand
),
Amadeus
DeKastle
(
placement,
Kyrgyzstan)
,
Azim Duischeev (placement, Kyrgyzstan),
Neus
Gallés
(Germany)
,
Susan
King
(UK)
, Yvonne Raap
(Switz
erland)
, Ben Rees
(UK)
,
John
Soos
(Canada)
, Peter
Sporrer
(Germany)
, Rahat Yusubalieva
(
placement,
Kyrgyzstan)
.
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organis
ation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the United Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union
for
the
Conservation
of Nature
10
13
–
25 July 2015
Nurzhan Alymkanova
(
placement,
Kyrgyzstan)
, Nick Benfell
(New Zealand)
,
Azim
Duischeev (placement, Kyrgyzstan),
Michael Kas
ch
(Germany)
, Ceire McGinley
(UK)
,
Andre Meine
(Germany)
, Vincent Schaller
(Sweden)
, Barbara
Schirmer
(Germany)
, Suzie
Schnell
(USA)
, Duncan Sharp
(UK)
, Siv Siem
(Norway)
,
Peter
Sporrer
(Germany)
, Anke
Ulke
(Germany)
, Ellen Westbrook
(USA)
.
27 July
–
8 Au
gust 2015
Sandra Frey
(Germany)
, Tobias Binder
(
press,
Germany)
, Daniela Gunz
(Switzerland)
,
Dirk
Kunischewski
(Switzerland)
, Christine Leung
(China)
, Matthias
Paul
(Germany)
, Phil
Pearce
(UK)
,
Henrik
Roigaard
(Switzerland)
, Vincent
Sch
aller
(Sweden)
, Mic
hael Seipel
(Germany)
, Rainer Springhorn
(Germany)
, Susanne Tappe
(
press,
Germany)
, Ellen
Westbrook
(USA)
.
Also our expedition cook throughout the expedition, Emma Alimbekova
, and, on a
rotational basis,
members of NABU’s ant
i
-
poaching patrol ‘Grupa Bars’
:
Zholdosch
Akunov
v (who has sadly since passed away)
, Kurmanbek Duischeev, Schailoo
Tesektschiev, Aman Talgartbek Uulu)
, all from Kyrgyzstan.
1.8
. Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the
expedition participants
, who not only dedicated their spare time t
o
helping but also, through their expedition contributions, funded the research. Thank you
also to our partner organisation, the
Naturschutzbund
(NABU = nature protection alliance),
in particular the Grupa Bars (see sect
ion 1.7. for their names), as well as Tolkunbek
Asykulov
and NABU’s Bishkek office staff
, Boris Tichomirow, Hanna Pfüller and Britta
Hennig. A big thank you also to
Almaz Alzhambaev of
www.carforrent.kg
, who has he
lped
us very much over and above the call of duty.
Thank you also for John Soos for kindly
revising our community questionnaire.
Emma Alimbekova, was an amazing cook and the
heart and soul of the expedition.
Biosphere Expeditions would also like to thank m
embers
of the Friends of Biosphere Expeditions and donors for their support.
1.9
. Further information & enquiries
More background information on Biosphere Expeditions in general and on this expedition
in particular including pictures, diary excerpts and
a copy of this report can be found on the
Biosphere Expeditions website
www.biosphere
-
expeditions.org
.
Enquires should be addressed to Biosphere Expeditions at the address given on the
website.
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organis
ation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the United Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union
for
the
Conservation
of Nature
11
1.10
. Exp
edition budget
Each team member paid towards expeditio
n costs a contribution
of £1,
8
6
0
per person per
12
-
day slot. The contribution covered accommodation and meals, supervision and
induction, special research equipment and all transport from and to the te
am assembly
point. It did not cover excess luggage charges, travel insurance, personal expenses such
as telephone bills, souvenirs etc., or visa and other travel expenses to and from the
assembly point (e.g. international flights). Details on how this cont
ribution was spent are
given below.
Income
£
Expedition contributions
49,106
Expenditure
Expedition base
includes all
food & services
5,255
Transport
includes
hire cars, fuel, taxis in Kyrgyzstan
9,890
Equipment and hardware
includes research
mat
erials & gear etc. purchased internationally & locally
3,911
Staff
includes local and Biosphere Expeditions staff salaries
and travel expenses
8,586
Administration
includes miscellaneous fees & sundries
1,272
Team recruitment
Tien Shan
as estimated %
of annual PR costs for Biosphere Expeditions
4,186
Income
–
Expenditure
16,006
Total percentage spent directly on project
67
%
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organis
ation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the United Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union
for
the
Conservation
of Nature
12
2.
Monitoring
snow leopards and other species on the
south side of
the
Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too mountain range in the
Tien Sha
n mountains of
Kyrgyzstan
Volodymyr Tytar
I.I Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
2.1
.
Introduction
2.1.1. Background on the snow leopard
The snow leopard (
Uncia uncia
) is a member of the
Felidae
subfamily
P
antherinae
and on
the basis of morphology,
behavio
u
r
and genetics,
it is placed alone in its own
genus
(Johnson et al. 2006)
.
Snow leopards
are found in
12
countries across Central Asia
(China, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbek
istan, Kyrgyzstan,
Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia). China contains as much as 60% of the snow leopard’s
potential habitat.
Figure 2.1.1a.
Part of the s
now leopard
’s
range (brown) and range countries. Expedition study site in black ellipse.
Inaccessi
ble and difficult terrain, along with the secretive nature of this rare cat
,
helps
account for the fact that large parts of its range have yet to be surveyed. Between 4,500
and 7,350 snow leopards are thought to occur within a total potential habitat area
of
1,835,000 km
2
. Snow leopards are generally solitary and mating usually occurs between
late January and mid
-
March,
with
one to five cubs
being
born after a gestation period of 93
to 110 days, generally in June or July. Snow leopards are closely associate
d with the
alpine and subalpine ecological zones, preferring broken, rocky terrain with vegetation that
is dominated by shrubs or grasses.
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organis
ation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the United Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union
for
the
Conservation
of Nature
13
The h
ome range of five snow leopards in prime habitat in
Nepal ranged from 12 to 39
km
2
,
with substantial overlap b
etween individuals and sexes. In Mongolia, where food
resources may be scarcer, home ranges of both males and females exceeded 400 km
2
(McCarthy et al. 2005)
Snow leopards are opportunistic predators capable of killing prey
up to three times their own weig
ht. They will also take small prey such as marmot or
chukar partridge. In general, their most commonly taken prey consists of wild sheep and
goats (including
blue sheep, Asian ibex, markhor
and argali). Adult snow leopards kill a
large prey animal every 10
–
15 days, and remain on the kill for an average of
three to
four
days, and sometimes up to a week. Predation on livestock can be significant, which often
results in retribution killing by herders.
Snow l
eopards are listed as E
ndangered on the IUCN Red Li
st. Currently the species
do
es
not meet the standards of Critically Endangered
,
but
populations
are
projected to decline
by 50% or more over
the next three
generations due to potential levels of exploitation
(trade in pelts/bones and conflict with livestoc
k), a
nd due to declining suitable habitat,
extent of occurrence, and finally
quality of habitat (prey depletion). They appear in
Appendix I of both CITES and the Convention on Conservation of Migratory Speci
es of
Wild Animals (CMS). Snow l
eopards are prote
ct
ed nationally over most of their
range.
However, in some countries the relevant legislation may not always be very effective
(Snow Leopard Working Secretariat 20013)
.
2.1.2. The snow leopard in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan was once home to the species' second
largest population in the world. In the
1970s and 1980s, the trapping and export of wil
d animals was officially organis
ed by the
Soviet national zoo authority. Kyrgyzstan supplied approximately 40 snow leopards
annually, which the central office in Mosc
ow
sold to zoos worldwide for
USD
50
per
animal. With the
end
of the Soviet Union, many official wildlife trappers were put out of
work. Today, because of the high prices
snow leopard parts earn
on the black market,
snow leopards have been poached
heavily
si
nce Kyrgyzstan gained independence from
the Soviet Union in 1991.
In Kyrgyzstan (representing around 4% of the
snow leopard home range, Table 2.1.2a
),
numbers declined from an estimated 600
–
700 individual
s in the late 1980s (
Koshkarev
1989
) to 150
–
200
ind
ividuals by 2000 (
Koshkarev &
Vyry
paev 2000
), putting the species
at high risk of extinction in the country.
Table 2.1.2a.
Potential
h
abitat
area (in square kilometres) for the snow leopard across its r
ange in Central Asia
(after
Hunter & Jackson 1997
).
Country
Total potential habitat
(e
stimated occupied habitat)
Good
Fair
Percent
p
rotected
All Countries
3,024,728
549,706
2,4
75,022
6.0
Kyrgyzstan
126,162 (105,000)
32,783
93,379
1.1
Across the snow leopard’s range, gaining a more accurate picture
of
s
now leopard
distribution and identifying
“
hotspots
”
is a critical conservation need. Over most of the
range, it is uncertain where t
he species occurs. This emphasis
es the need for snow
leopard surveys and distribution mapping, the results of which will hel
p identify areas for
conservation.
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organis
ation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the United Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union
for
the
Conservation
of Nature
14
Secondly, there is a need
for a better understanding of prey species distributions and
populations.
As with snow leopards themselves, the distribution and abundance of the
cat’s prey is poorly documented over much of th
e range.
Baseline population estimates
should be gained for this purpose. This will allow long
-
term trend monitoring to begin.
Third
ly, an important issue is
the evaluation of the attitudes and lifestyles of local
communities who share the snow leopard’s
habitat.
Recently these needs have been incorporated into a new international effort to save the
snow leopard and conserve high
-
mountain ecosystems
(
the Global Snow Leopard
&
Ecosystem Protection Program,
GSLEP
,
www.globalsnowleopard.org/documents
-
grid/
)
,
which
corresponds to the commitments of the
Bishkek Declaration
adopted by
12
sno
w
leopard home range countries at the Global Snow Leopard Forum in 2013. Under GSLEP,
portfolios of national activities have been designed and are expected to be implemented
with the support from inter
national and national
partners.
On this expedition our
main partner
was
the German conservation organi
s
ation
N
ABU
(NABU =
Naturschutzbund
= nature protection alliance)
. Founded in 1899, NABU is one of
the oldest and largest environment associations in Germany. The associati
on
encompasses more than 450,000 members and sponsors, who commit themselves to the
conservation of threatened habitats, flora and fauna, to climate protection and
to
energy
policy. In Kyrgyzstan, NABU, in cooperation with the Kyrgyz government, is impleme
nting
a program
me
to conserve the snow leopard through a twin approach of research and the
prevention of illegal hunting and trade of the endangered species
(see
http://nabu.kg/wp/
)
.
2.1.3. Background on
Kyrgyzstan
Ter
rain
The terrain of Kyrgyzstan is dominated by the Tien Shan and Pamir mountain systems,
which together occupy about 65% of the country. The Alay
R
ange portion of the Tien Shan
system dominates the south
-
western crescent of the country, and, to the east,
the main
Tien Shan
R
ange runs along the boundary between southern Kyrgyzstan and China
before extending farther east into China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Kyrgyzstan's a
verage elevation is 2,750 m, ranging from
394 m in the Fergana Valley near
Osh
to
7,439 m
at Peak Jengish Chokusu
. Almost 90% of the country lies more than 1,500
m above sea level.
The mountains of Kyrgyzstan are geologically young, so that the physical terrain is marked
by sharply uplifted peaks separated by deep valleys. There is
also considerable glaciation.
Kyrgyzstan's 6,500 distinct glaciers are estimated to hold about 650 km
3
of water.
Because the high peaks function as moisture catchers, Kyrgyzstan
is relatively well
-
watered by the streams that descend from them.
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organis
ation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the United Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union
for
the
Conservation
of Nature
15
Climate
The country’s climate is influenced chiefly by the mountains, Kyrgyzstan’s position near
the middle of the Eurasian landmass, and the absence of any body of water large enough
to influence weather patterns. Those factors create a distinctly continental cli
mate that has
significant local variations. Although the mountains tend to collect clouds and block
sunlight (reducing some narrow valleys at certain times of year to no more than three or
four hours of sunlight per day), the country is generally sunny, re
ceiving as much as 2,900
hours of sunlight per year in some areas. The same conditions also
affect temperatures,
which can vary significantly from place to place. In January the warmest average
temperature (
−4°C) occurs around the southern city of Osh, and around
lake
Ysyk
-
Köl.
The lat
ter, which has a volume of 1.7
km
3
, does not freeze in winter
. Indeed, its name
means "hot lake" in Kyrgyz. The coldest temperatures are in mountain valleys. There,
readings can fall to
−30°C or lower; the record is −53.6°C. The average temperature fo
r
July similarly varies from 27
°C in the Fergana Valley, where the
record high is 44°C, to a
low of
−10°C on the highest mountain peaks. Precipitation varies from 2,000
mm
per year
in the mountains above the Fergana Valley to less than 100
mm
per year on the west bank
of
lake
Ysyk
-
Köl.
Environmental issues
Kyrgyzstan h
as been spared many of the enormous environmental problems faced by its
Central Asian neighbo
u
rs, primarily because its designated roles in the Soviet system
involved neither heavy industry nor large
-
scale cotton production. Also, the economic
downturn of
the early 1990s reduced some of the more serious effects of industrial and
agricultural policy. Nevertheless, Kyrgyzstan has serious
environmental
problems because
of inefficient use and pollution of water resources, land degradation, and improper
agricult
ural practices.
Global climate change, ozone layer depletion, desertification and biodiversity loss are
among global environmental issues presently on the agenda in Kyrgyzstan.
Global Climate Change:
Kyrgyzstan acknowledged the problem of global climate
change
and in 2003 ratified the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change. It is estimated that the energy sector of the country is responsible for
emissions of approximately two
-
third
s
of
the
total carbon dioxide, and in
absolute terms
this amount
is
likely
to
grow, even though
there is also an
increase in
the
share of
renewable energy such as
hydropower. Related to the global climate change in
Kyrgyzstan
is the
problem of deglaciation. The area occupied by glaciers has de
creased
by 20% lately and there are concerns that glaciers in the country c
ould
disappear by 2100.
Biodivers
ity loss:
In terms of biological diversity
,
Kyrgyzstan hold
s a prominent place
worldwide. I
t possess
es
around 1% of all known species
,
while its ar
ea makes up only
0.13% of
the
world
’s
land
mass
. According to the
N
ational Biodiversity Strategy and Action
Plan
,
the threats to biodiversity are related to anthropogenic activity and include habit
at
loss and alteration, fragmentation of natural communities due to overuse,
overharvesting
,
direct mortality, introduction of non
-
native species, environmental pollution and climate
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organis
ation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the United Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union
for
the
Conservation
of Nature
16
Degradation of mountain ecosystems:
Kyrgyzstan is a mountainous country
with 90% of its
area located at altitudes above 1,500
m
. Large
-
scale technological pressure on fragile
mountain ecosystems by mining and infrastructure projec
ts, and the agricultural sector,
served to disturb the
natural
balance and accelerate a number of
natural hazards.
Land management:
The most important problems in land
use are soil erosion and
salinis
ation in improperly irrigated farmland. An estimated 60% of Kyrgyzstan's land is
affected by
topsoil loss, and 6% by salinis
ation, both problems with mor
e serious long
-
term
than short
-
term effects. In 1994 the size of livestock herds averaged twice the carrying
capacity of pasturage land, continuing the serious overgrazing problem and consequent
soil erosion that began when the herds were at their peak in
the late 1980s. Uncertain land
tenure and overall financial insecurity have caused many private farmers to concentrate
their c
apital in the traditional form
-
livestock
-
thus subjecting new land to the overgrazing
problem.
The Tien Shan
m
ountains
The Ti
en Shan mountains are
the largest mountain range in Asia, in surfa
ce area, with a
length of
2
,800 km
and
a maximum width of 800 km, and
with a total of 40 peaks over
6
,
000 m.
They
stretch across several countries and much of the system lies in the territor
y
of
Kyrgyzstan.
Extending
from the Chatkal Range just e
ast of Tashkent to Urumchi
(beyond which
they
rise aga
in as the Bogdo Ola Range), the Tien Shan mountains
are
usually d
escribed as being divided into northern, western, eastern, central and i
nner
rang
es and most of them exhibit typical “alpine” features.
It is the
central portion, south
-
east of l
ake Ysyk
-
Köl, which contains the very high mountain
peaks such as Khan Tengri and Peak Pobeda, closely grouped together along ridges that
stretch east
to
wes
t. The area surroundi
ng the Enilchek G
lacier has two peaks over 7
,000
m
(Pobeda and Khan T
engri
), 23 higher than 6
,000 m,
and 80 more peaks between 5
,
000
and 6
,000 m
. The range is made up of sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks.
Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too
The
Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too (Kyrgyz: Кыргыз Ала
-
Тоосу, also Kyrgyz Alatau, Kyrgyz Range)
is a
large range in the north Tien
Shan
(Figs
2.1.
3
a and 2.2.2a
). It stretches for a total length of
454 km from the west
end of
lake
Ysyk
-
Köl to the town
of
Taraz in Kazakhstan
. I
t runs in
an
east
–
west direction, separating Chuy Valley from Kochkor Valley, Suusamyr Valley and
Talas Valley.
The
Talas Ala
-
Too Range adjoins t
he Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too near the
Töö Ashuu
Pass. The western part of Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too serves as a natural border betwee
n Kyrgyzstan
and Kazakhstan.
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
the
Conservation
of Nature
17
Figure 2.1.3a.
The Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too Range to the south of Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
Also see Figu
re 2.2.2a.
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
the
Conservation
of Nature
18
2.2. Materials and methods
2.2.1. Kyr
g
yz Ala
-
Too study site
By a joint decision of NABU and Biosphere Expeditions
the Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too
mountain
range
was
chosen for snow leopard inventory and habitat research for several reasons
including:
(1)
T
he area in recent times has been poorly surveyed for snow leopard; previous
research (
Koshkarev
1989, see Table 2
.2.1a
)
of the area has suggested the suitability of
the area for sustaining snow leopards, however more evidence is needed befor
e coming
to a
final conclusion.
Table 2.2.1a.
Numbers, density and area occupied by the snow leopard in various parts of the Tien Shan (excerpt from
Koshkarev
1989)
. Ala
-
Archa is within the Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too Range.
Range, river catchment area
Number of individuals
Avera
ge density
(
individuals /
100 km
2
)
Occupied area
(in km
2
)
Aksu
12
-
14
2.51
517.5
Sokoluk
6
-
8
3.25
215.6
Ala
-
Archa
7
-
9
2.40
333.5
Issyk
-
Ata
5
-
6
3.25
169.0
(2
) A map study suggested
that the area may be an important corridor for snow leopard
dispersal
be
tween the Talas Ala
-
Too Range (w
estern Tien Shan) and ranges located in
the
Ysyk
-
Köl
b
asin
. A
ccording to a
draft design of an ecological network for Kyrgyzstan
,
led by E.M. Shuku
rov
,
“
it supports habitats and migration routes of many wild animals (the
snow leopard, black vulture, bearded vulture, hawk
-
type raptors, lynx, wild boar, Siberian
ibex, Himalaya
n snowcock) as well as juniper
and spruce forests that need protection
.”
(3
) T
he habitat is
high in biodiversity
, supporting a range of pre
y species and other
carnivores.
(4) T
he area lacks proper protection and is threatened by a growing economic interest; as
quoted in the draft design
above, “g
eographically, the zone is locate
d in the Chuisk Oblast,
which is the most populous province nationwide (over 1.5 million people). The proximity to
the capital city of Bishkek makes the zone more vulnerable
, because of
heavy recreation
pressure from city dwellers visiting the nearest nati
onal park, mountaineer camps,
zakaznik
(sanctuary)
reserve
s, ski resorts, thermal springs
etc. The anthropogenic impact
on natural ecosystems is especially pronounced in summer, as domestic cattle (over
100,000 heads of cattle, over 250,000 of shee
p and go
ats) are put to pasture
o
n
the
Kyrgyz
Ala
-
Too
. The commonest violations of land use are unsystematic cattle grazing,
illegal hunting and forest felling.
”
However, there is a potential here for establishing
protected areas (several proposals have been made
in the quoted draft) that could favo
u
r
wildlife and benefit local residents.
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-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
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the
Conservation
of Nature
19
2.2.2. Research area & timing of s
urvey
Surveys concentrated on the south side of Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too, away from the main cities on
the northern slopes. Suusamyr Valley was the exped
ition’s main access route into the
southern valleys. Suusamyr V
a
lley is a high steppe plateau (
2
,200 m)
that
,
although only
some 160 km from Bishkek
,
is also one of the more remote and rarely visited regions of
Kyrgyzstan,
which was
one of the reasons for
selecting this option. The
valley’s population
of about 6
,
000 is mainly Kyrgyz. In Soviet times
the valley
was one of the major sheep
breeding areas in the country.
Up to four million sheep
a year were
driven over the
mountain passes in spring to graze on
the grasses of the steppe.
Today, i
n the summer,
people still live in yurts
(traditional round tent structures)
and graze sheep and horses. The
valley’s
main settlement
,
the village of Suusamyr
,
is also the one that gives the valley its
name. The village l
ies at the e
astern edge of the plain
,
about 15 km east of the main
Bishkek
–
Osh road. From here, there is a route following the course of the West
Karakol
River
at the
southern
foot of the Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too and up to the
Karakol Pass (
3
,
452 m) and
leading furt
her to Kochkor (Fig.
2.2.2a
). The surroundings are practically deserted
–
there
are
virtually no settlements in the valley.
In
summer,
people occupy the jailoos (high
-
mountain pastures) right up to the
Karakol P
ass itself
–
grazing
horses, cattle and sheep
.
For reasons of
safety, accessibility and convenience,
base camps were located close
to
the Suusamyr
–
Kochkor road. Base camp was moveable and moved once during the
expedition in order to cover the largest area possible (see Fig. 2.2.2a). From base camp,
mostly one
-
day surveys, but also some two
-
day/one
-
night surveys were conducted to
various portions of the Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too Range and to Jumgal Too Range located on the
opposite side of the West Karakol
R
iver.
Camp 1 (10 June
–
3 July 2015) was
set up in th
e Tuyuk
-
Ala
-
Archa
V
alley (
N
42.351806
o
,
E
74.543806
o
, elevation
2
,
705
m). Camp 2 (15 July
–
7 August 2015
) was relocated to a
spot on the side of the West Karakol
R
iver (
N
42.359639
o
,
E
74.695861
o
, elevation
2
,
919
m
). This site
was
surrounded by running wa
ter:
on one side by the river itself
and on
the
other by a shallow stream, hence the location’s name of “Aral”,
meaning
“island”
in the
Turkic languages.
C
amp locations
are shown in Figure 2.2.3b
.
Snow leopard surveys are best undertaken when weather per
mits travel within the
proposed survey area, when animals are most actively marking and when signs are most
long
-
lived. These conditions rarely coincide, so trade
-
offs have to be made between
logistical factors and biological ones. Logistics and team recru
itment factors by and large
determined the survey period for this study. On the one hand, summer is a difficult time to
find snow leopard signs: marking activity is low, human disturbance is high and livestock
grazing can soon obliterate signs. Suitability
of tracking substrate is also poor (tracking is
much easier in snow). Weather conditions also tend to be unpredictable and contribute to
sign erosion and eradication
;
rain erodes signs very rapidly. On the other hand, recruiting
for a summer expedition is
much more realistic, logistics are not nearly as prohibitive
as
in
winter and, most importantly for this study, human presence can be a valuable source of
information, especially in the absence of other baseline data.
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-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
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Conservation
of Nature
20
Figure 2.2.2a.
Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too an
d r
oad from
the villages of
Suusamyr to Kochkor
(along Suusamyr valley)
on the range’s southern side
(from Google Maps).
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
the
Conservation
of Nature
21
2.2.3.
Methods
Survey routes followed river valleys and landform edges wherever possible. Research
focused on areas considered the mos
t important habitat for snow leopard and prey, and
with the
lowest levels of human disturbance. Distant survey sites were accessed by car.
Ground surveys were conducted on foot.
Snow leopard presence can be detected by si
gns, i.e. pugmarks (tracks), scrap
es, faeces
(scat), urination and scent spray on rocks
. These signs tend to be left in relatively
predictable places. For example, scrapes tend to be left at the base of cliffs, beside large
boulders, on knolls and promontories, at bends in trails, or along
other well
-
defined
landform edges (
Koshkarev 1984, Schaller et al. 1987, Jackson & Ahlborn 1988, Mallon
1988
). These factors are important when deciding where to survey.
Sur
veying the prey base is another
essential component of
a
snow leopard
presence/ab
sence survey. Argali
(
Ovis ammon
)
and ibex
(
Capra sibirica
)
are considered
the main prey species in the area.
In general, t
heir range closely parallels that of the snow
leopard.
Prey species were surveyed by recording signs and by
direct
observation. Pre
y signs
included tracks, faeces, hair/wool and carcasses/bones. Prey species were divided into
“
primary
”
(ibex and argali) and
“
secondary
”
(roe deer
Capreolus capreolus
, marmot
Marmota c
a
u
data
, pika
Ochotona
spp.
, hare
Lepus capensis tolai
,
wild boar
Sus s
crofa
and game birds
, in line with Lyngdoh et al.’s (2014) prey preference study
).
The same
search sites were used for snow leopard and for prey.
The study site encompassed an area of 122 x 38 km within the Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too Range
(
see Figs 2.2.3a and b), wi
th additional surveys conducted in the Jumgal Too Range. The
area was divided into 2 x 2 km cells and surveying followed the
methodology manual
developed for vo
lunteer expeditions by
Mazzolli & Hammer (2013).
GIS and mapping
The main reference maps used were Soviet military topographic map
s created between
1950
and
1980
at a
scale
of
1:100 000 and 1:200 000. A GIF image of the area was
imported and georeference
d into the GIS freeware program
TrackMaker
(
www.gpstm.com
)
(Fig. 2.2.3a
). A grid of 2 x 2 km
coded
cells, of which a fraction was actually surveyed,
covering the study area was uploaded into the expe
dition’s GPS units
(Garmin eTrex 20
and 30
) to aid navigation and data collection. Grid data was in Universal Transverse
Mercator projection, covering zone 43T and datum WGS 84.
Using GIS freeware programs
DIVA
-
GIS 7.
5 (
www.diva
-
gis.
org/
) and
QGIS 2.6.1
(
www.qgis.org
), grid cells
were polygonis
ed, their centroids were found and hexagon
b
uffers were created around them. T
hese shapefiles were then used in the
subsequent
analysis of collected data.
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-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
the
Conservation
of Nature
22
Figure 2.2.3a
.
S
creenshot of the map and grid of 2 x 2 km cells covering thestudy area (viewed in the GIS freeware program TrackMaker).
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
the
Conservation
of Nature
23
Figure 2.2.3b
.
Fragment of the map and grid of 2 x 2 km cells
(depicted in Figure 2.2.3a
above
), shown
as a G
oogle Earth file (*.kml).
G
rid lines (tracks)
–
red, waypoints
–
yellow pins,
base camps
–
green
icons
.
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
the
Conservation
of Nature
24
2.2.4. Training of expedition participants
In this study, data collection was performed by volunteers with no previous
knowledge of
wildlife
research
and conservation,
except
that
which was
given during the initial stages of
the
expedition. Training included an introduction to snow leopard conservation issues, the
role of NABU and Biosphere Expeditions in
the
snow leopard survey and the methods of
reco
rding presence of species using GPS and datasheets. For these purposes various
handouts were
produced, including an 18 page
illustrate
d
Expedition Field Guide
.
Before
participants
wer
e split into small groups to perform
their various research
tasks, an
introductory survey on the first day was performed as part of the training process. During
this survey, tracks and sca
ts of known species were shown.
To reduce identification errors,
pa
rticipants
were instructed to bring scats to base camp
whenever they were unable to identify the species. They were also briefed on how to take
photos of tracks for identification later at base. The large surveying team recruited by
Biosphere Expeditions h
elped to cover a substantial geographical area in a short time,
meaning that chances of finding snow leopard and other wildlife
sign were maximis
ed by
having many people fully engaged in looking for vestiges.
2.2.5.
Sampling
Fifty
-
six
cells 2 x 2 km in s
ize over a
20 x 58
km area located in the southern Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too Range
(Fig. 2.2.5a
) were surveyed for snow leopard and sympatric medium and
large
-
sized mam
mals and game birds during a
n 8
-
week peri
od in June
-
August 2015.
Some cells
were resampled a
number
of times. Individual survey teams
ranged from
four
to eight
volunteers. Following the presence/absence method of occupancy (MacKenzie et
al. 2002)
and the field manual developed by Mazzolli & Hammer (2013)
, the presence of
prey species and large carnivore
s was recorded using the general
location given by a cell
code. O
nce a species or its signs were found in a given cell, it was scored as containing
the species.
In cases of snow leopard sign GPS records were taken at the spot.
Locations of
Siberian
ibex
sightings
were also recorded
using a GPS receiver
when feasible and with the aid of
a
p
hysical map and a SILVA compass. This was done
to record
more precisely
their
location
for modeling purposes
, rather than just recording the cell code alone.
There is
a need to cover large areas so that the survey can better represent the snow
leopard and potential prey populations. Furthermore, it is recommended that rare species
should be surveyed in more locations less intensively than few locations intensively
(MacK
enzie, Royle 2005). For this reason, teams usually covered two or more 2 x 2 km
cells during the daily surveys.
Nineteen digital
Bushnell
camera traps were set throughout the study area. The cameras
were installed in areas which the field team perceived a
s good spots to produce photos of
the snow leopard and species associated with snow leopard habitat.
Other species,
including birds, mammals, one amphibian species and butterflies, were recorded
whenever possible.
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
the
Conservation
of Nature
25
Figure 2.2.5a.
The 2 x 2 km
cells sampled and
found to contain data in the planned research
area (for convenience of computer processing
in GIS the
“
square
”
cells are represented by
hexagons, which share the same centroids, i.e.
“average” position of all the points in the
shape). The
administrative border is between
the Chuy and Naryn oblasts of Kyrgyzstan.
Legend is the same for the maps below.
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-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
the
Conservation
of Nature
26
2.2.6. Species records and modelling for Siberian ibex
We gathered 75 records of Siberian ibex in the study area according to direct sighti
ngs
and camera trap results obtained
over
two consecutive years (
the expeditions in
2014 and
2015).
This was enough to produce a predictive model of the ibex distribution
.
The
extracted points were georeferenced using
OziExplorer
v.3.95.4m
.
All the coordin
ates
were expressed in decimal degree and converted to a point vector file for model
l
ing the
distribution of the species.
O
nly spatially unique ones, corresponding to a single
environmental grid cell (resolution of 30 arc seconds, ~ 1km) were used.
Envir
onmental &
b
ioclimatic data
To relate the occurrence records of ibex with abiotic conditions, we downloaded 19
bioclimatic variables for the current climate at a
30 arc second
resolution and WGS84
projection (
Hijmans
et al. 2005
). These variable
s represen
t annual trends (e.g.
mean
annual temperature, annual p
recipitation), seasonality (e.g.
annual range in temperature
and precipitation) and extreme or limit
ing environmental factors (e.g.
temperature of the
coldest and warmest month, and precipitation of th
e wet and dry quarters).
Temp
erature has long been recognis
ed as an important environmental factor in
ecosystems in regard to its pivotal role over biological (development, growth and
reproduction), chemical and physical properties. Precipitation regimes
and variation of
precipitation events have broad effects on ecosystem
productivity, habitat structure
and
ultimately on
species
distribution.
For the study region of the Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too
,
scientific data on
a
range
of environmental
resources (other than bi
oclimatic)
are limited,
which hinders sustainable management and
nature conservation.
The need for update
d
in
formation has long been recognis
ed and stimulated the use of
earth data using remote sensing techniques, which has become a universal and familia
r
instrument for assessing natural resources (
Philipson & Lindell 2003
). Information from
low
-
altitude satellite sensors and remote sensing offer
s
an optimal path for understanding
pattern and process related to rangeland condition in the area. The multi
-
t
emporal and
multi
-
spectral data acquired by various satellite sensors are used to identify, map and
monitor rangelands,
and to
derive specific environmental variables.
We used a Landsat
8 satellite image (path 151
/row 31) taken on
7
August 20
14 (Fig.
2.2
.
6
a
), freely acquired from the U.S. Geological Survey georeferenced GeoTIFF files at a
30 m resolution via
https://libra.developmentseed.org/
. This image encompassing the
study area was selected because o
f the minimum cloud coverage (0.16%).
Candidate predictor variables were extracted from the Landsat image. Although raw
Landsat bands can convey habitat information (e.g. open water is easily differentiated from
vegetation in infrared bands), derived var
iables can be better predictors than raw ones
(
Wintle et al. 2005
).
The variables found in the published results as most suitable to predict the ecological
niche dominance within the landscape include tasselled cap transformation,
E
nhanced
V
egetation
I
nde
x (EVI), and Land
S
urface
T
emperature (LST).
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-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
the
Conservation
of Nature
27
EVI
is a standardis
ed vegetation index
,
which allows us to generate an image showing the
relative biomass.
Landsat
8 thermal bands
,
i.e.
b
and 10 and
b
and 11, were used to calculate the brightness
temperature
over the study area. This gives an assessment of the ground temperature
,
which
may be hotter than the ambient air temperature.
Tasselled cap transformations, originally developed to understand changes in agricultural
lands, generate three orthogonal bands
from the six
-
band
Landsat composite (
Huang et
al. 2002
). The three generated bands represent measurements of brightness (band 1,
dominated by surface soils), greenness (band 2, dominated by vegetation) and wetness
(band 3, includes interactions of soil, v
egetation and moisture patterns) (
Kauth & Thomas
1976
).
Figure 2.2.
6
a.
Landsat 8 image LC81510312014219LGN00.
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-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
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of Nature
28
A digital elev
ation model (DEM) was used as input for capturing topographic variables.
The DEM was aggregated from the 30
seconds (~30 m) NASA Shuttle Radar Topograph
y
Mission (
SRTM
)
DEM
.
The following terrain features were extracted: slope, aspect and
terrain ruggedness. Slope is the steepness or the degree of incline of a surface. Aspect is
the orientation of slope, measured clockwise in degrees from 0 to 360, where 0 is north
-
facin
g, 90 is east
-
facing, 180 is south
-
facing, and 270 is west
-
facing. The topographic
ruggedness index (TRI) was developed to express the amount of elevation difference
between adjacent cells of a DEM.
These were selected because terrain roughness and
slope g
enerally create a template of risk, in which herbivores have to trade off between
resource acquisition (e.g. foraging in high quality habitats, finding mates) and predator
avoidance (
Schweiger et al. 2015
)
. Ibex are very good climbers that find protection
from
predators and the possibility to overview large areas in predominantly rocky terrain with
steep slopes.
The resolution or grain of Landsat images (30 x 30 m) and the DEM is finer than the
accuracy by which we can record ibex presence in the field; f
or this reason all the
considered environmental layers have been rescaled to a
30 arc second
resolution (~ 1
km).
The System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses (
SAGA
) GIS software (v. 2.2.7) has
been used for th
e preliminary data processing
and
e
xtracting (clipping) images for the
study area. SAGA is a Free Open Source Software (FOSS). SAGA’s analytical and
operational capabilities cover geostatistics, terrain analysis, image processing,
georeferencing and variou
s tools for vector and raster data manipulation (Conrad 2006).
Final results were processed and visuali
s
ed in
DIVA
-
GIS
7.5 (
http://www.diva
-
gis.org/
) and
QGIS
2.6 (
http://www.qg
is.org/
)
, free computer programs for mapping and geographic data
analysis.
Statistical model
l
ing
Factor analysis in
Statistica 8 Portable
was used to examine the contribu
tions and the
main patterns of inter
-
correlation among the potential environmental controls. Principal
component (PC) was used as the extraction method. By rotating the factors a factor
solution was found that is equal to that obtained in the initial extra
ction
,
but which has the
simplest interpretation, and for this purpose the Varimax normali
s
ed type of rotation was
applied. Usually a solution that explains 75
–
80% of the variance is considered sufficient.
Maxent distribution model
We used the freely ava
ilable
Maxent
software, version 3.3.3k, which generates an
estimate of probability of presence of the species that varies from 0 to 1,
with
0 being the
lowest and 1 the highest probability.
Th
e default settings of
Maxent
were used in this
study. We ran models with 25 bootstrap replicates. Model performance was assessed
using the average AUC (area under the receiver operating curve) score to compare model
performance. AUC values >0.9 are conside
red to have
“
very good
”
, >0.8
“
good
”
and >0.7
“useful” discrimination abilities (
Swets 1988
)
.
The logistic output format was used, because it is easily interpretable with logistic
suitability values ranging from 0 (lowest suitability) to 1 (highest suitab
ility).
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
the
Conservation
of Nature
29
The logistic probabilities provide a relative indication of the likelihood of occurrence
of
the
species, but they do not define predicted occurrence in the binary, presence/absence
manner typically required by managers. Better interpretation is m
ade in most cases by
defining thresholds of habitat suitability. Therefore, we applied three thresholds to the
logistic output of each model to produce a three
-
category model, restricting the predicted
probability of occurrence to values >0.4, >0.5 and >0.
6. Final versions of maps were
considered to benefit by
generalis
ing raster outputs: 2
x
2 neighbo
u
rhood filtering
implemented in DIVA
-
GIS was applied for this purpose.
2.2.7
. Outreach activities
Involvement of the local communities through interviews and
talks was an important part of
the
expedition
. Time was spent with local people in their villages, settlements and
surrounding areas
,
in order to gather local knowledge about the area and record snow
leopard sightings, to investigate the level of human/wil
dlife conflict and
to
learn about local
attitudes to wildlife and natural resources.
Participants
recorded data gathered during
interviews. The NABU staff together with local volunteers provided invaluable help in
communicating with local people.
2.2.8
. P
etroglyphs
–
rock art
Petroglyphs are one of the earliest expressions of abstract thinking and are considered a
hallmark of humanity. Beyond their value as an aesthetic expression, petroglyphs provide
a rich body of information on several different dimens
ions. They may shed light on the
dynamic histories of human populations, the patterns of their migrations and
their
interactions. Petroglyphs have
also
been us
ed in studies of climate change
and the
changing inventories of species (
Lenssen
-
Erz & Heyd 2015
)
.
A large number of petroglyphs (
pictures drawn or etched onto stones
) were found in the
field
. These
petroglyphs
left on rocks can provide evidence of the way of life and the
environment of times gone by when there was no system of writing. Kyrgyzstan
bo
asts a
very large number of petroglyphs and recent m
apping of sites showed that
petroglyphs
a
re
found all over the country. I
t may be that some of the locations found during the expedition
were previously unknown
.
2.3.
Results
2.3.1. Snow leopard presen
ce/absence survey
Over an eight
-
week period
from June to August 2015 snow leopard presence/
absence
surveys were carried out in
56
2
x 2 km cells (Fig. 2.2.5a).
The search effort took from 5 to
10 hours
per cell
. Elevations ranged from 1
,
998 m to 3
,
396 m.
The dominant landscape
surveyed in the areas consisted of narrow valleys and broken terrain. Other landforms
included grass plateau
s
, ridges, rockfalls, moraines and glacial lake areas.
In terms of the Global Land Cover 2000 Project (GLC 2000)
, a harmonis
ed land cover
database over the whole globe
, seven
land cover categories can be disti
nguished in the
study area (Fig. 2.3.1a
), amongst which areas of “herbaceous cover, closed
-
open
”, “bare”
areas
and areas covered with “snow and ice” are prevailing, occupy
ing 59%, 14% and
21% of
the area covered in the survey
respectively.
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GLC 2000 makes use of the VEGA 2000 dataset: a dataset of 14 months of pre
-
processed
daily global data acquired by the VEGETATION instrument on board the SPOT 4 satellite
(
Fritz
et al.
2003).
Tree c
over, broadleaved,
deciduous, open
Herbaceous c
over, closed
-
open
Sparse herbaceous or
sparse shrub cover
1%
59%
3%
1%
14%
1%
21%
Tree Cover, broadleaved,
deciduous, open
Herbaceous Cover,
closed-open
Sparse herbaceous or
sparse shrub cover
Cultivated and managed
areas
Bare Areas
Water Bodies
Snow and Ice
Cultivated and
managed areas
Bare Areas
Water Bodies
Snow and i
ce
Figure 2.3.1a.
Types of
GLC 2000 l
and cover categories
found
in the study area and their percentages.
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Tracks (pugmarks)
These are more easily found in sandy rather than gravelly places, but sandy or muddy
areas were only present at lower elevations, away from preferred snow leopard terr
ain.
Snow patches left over from the winter and fresh snow cover were specifically examined
for
tracks
.
Table 2.3.1a
and Fig. 2.3.1b detail
the three
sets of
tracks found by the
expedition in 2015.
Table 2.3.1a.
Snow leopard tracks found by the 2015 exped
ition.
Date
Location
GPS location
Elevation (m)
Cell
Notes
16 June
Karakol Pass
N
42.355167
o
E
74.839944
o
3,405
AI18
Tracks of o
ne animal crossing
in a SE direction in snow
15 July
U
pper reaches of
Kashka
-
Tor V
alley
N
42.305222
o
E 7
4.746806
o
3,564
A
E20*
Tracks of o
ne animal in
muddy soil
1
6
July
U
pper reaches of
Issyk
-
Ata V
alley
N
42.419389
o
E
74.780139
o
3,846
AF14
Track of o
ne animal in snow
*Interestingly, in 2014 in the neighbo
u
ring cell of AF20 a foal had been presumably attacked by a snow
leopard and
mutilated, but escaped death. Up to now this is a second indication of snowleopard presence in that particular area.
Scrapes
These can be found in sandy sites (short
-
lived) and gravel (longer
-
lived). Unfortunately
,
suitable substrates were
not present in most of the survey area favo
u
red by snow leopard,
where the majority of substrate was vegetation
-
covered or broken terrain. Potential
suitable substrate was subject to livestock grazing. Rainfall and occasional snowfall
throughout much of th
e survey period also reduced the possibility of finding scrapes.
No scrapes of possible snow leopard origin were encountered.
Faeces
Faeces can be long
-
lived in areas with little rainfall and minimal insect activity
–
the survey
area was subject to hi
gh rainfall and intense insect activity. Grasshoppers and ground
beetles, for instance, were found at all but the highest elevations and are voracious
consumers of faecal matter. Faeces can be deposited solitarily or with other scats of
varying ages. Faece
s are most often found in association with scrapes.
No sign of faeces was recorded.
Urination
Urine can be deposited on scrape piles and is commonly deposited along regular paths or
trails.
No definite signs of urination were found during the survey
period. Lack of trails and
difficulty in finding scrapes were a contributing factor.
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Fig
ure 2.3.1b
.
Location of cells (shaded blue) in which snow leopard tracks were found by the 2015 expedition.
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Scent spray
S
now leopards spray
-
mark the faces o
f upright or overhanging boulders and the base of
cliffs. Some sites are periodically revisited and re
-
sprayed (mainly along trails). The
majority of spray sites will have one or more scrapes within a distance of a few metr
e
s.
No scent
spray was found du
ring the survey
.
2.3.2.
Threats to snow leopard presence
In the course of the presence/
absence survey
,
an account was taken of human
-
induced
factors considered to threaten snow leopard presence in the area. Grazing activities turn
out to be the most comm
on and are widespread. In the early season most of the grazing is
confined to foothills and mouths of v
alleys facing the West Karakol. However,
later on
in
the summer
(with the depletion of the grass stands)
,
herds move up the valleys and reach
altitu
des
w
here they become a disturbing factor to snow leopards and/or they prey.
In some way
s
the negative impact of human presence on prey availabi
li
ty (
i.e.
Siberian
ibex) can be evidenced by the obviously inverse relationship b
etween the numbers of
interviewed
villageres
(INT), as a proxy of human presence, and direct sightings (OBS) of
ibex, reflecting (with certain amendments) their numbers a
nd abundance in the field (Fig.
2.3.2a
).
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
1
2
3
4
OBS
INT
Figure 2.3.2a.
Numbers of direct sightings (OBS) of Siberian ibex and
int
erviews
conducted
(INT) in
expedition groups
1, 2, 3 and 4.
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In general, the grazing pressure in the area has considerably reduced from the
former
communist
regime
. Many areas suitable for grazing have been abandoned by herders as
they are no longe
r subsid
is
ed by the government. Today these areas are considered to be
“
empty
”
, but
judging by
the abundance of ruderal weeds
(i.e, species typically dominating
disturbed area
s such as
Bishop's weed
Aegopodium podagraria
, lady's mantle
Alchemilla
vulgaris
etc.), m
uch of the ecosystem in the area is yet far from full recovery.
Occasional horse droppings and car tracks found
at
higher
altitudes
indicate sporadic
human presence over most of the area. Other signs of human presence and disturbance
included bullet cases
, hides, campfires and various items of rubbish left behind by visitors.
2.3.3. Prey base survey
Signs of prey species
during
presence/absence surveys were found to be fairly abundant
and widespread in a variety of terrain
s
for some species
(Fig. 2.3.3a
)
. Most
records
were
of Siberian ibex (39%), whereas argali (12
%) is
less abundant
in the study area
with
only
indirect signs of
its
presence. Marmots are common at lower elevations (28%), whereas
indications of snowcock presence (13%) appear at higher alti
tudes (these are mainly
droppings left over from the winter season).
12%
39%
34%
15%
argali
ibex
marmot
scock
Figure 2.3.3a.
Signs of prey species
found
in the presence/absence surveys (in %
of records
)
during the expedition
.
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The maps below display the cells in which species with substantial
quantitative information were found.
Figure 2.3
.3b.
Map showing the distribution of Siberian ibex. Recording methods are direct observation (n=21) and camera traps (n=8). In a number of cells
independent records were made
two
to
three
times. Red
triangles indicate cells where camera traps were placed and successfully
took
pictures of
ibex
.
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-
for
-
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36
Figure 2.3
.3c
.
Map showing the distribution of ibex (recording met
hods: track, scat and other, n=
5
1
)
.
Note that some cells yielded a number of indep
endent records.
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-
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-
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Figure 2.3
.3d.
Map showing the distribution of argali (recording methods:
scat and other, n=15)
.
Note that some cells yielded a number of independent records.
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-
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-
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38
Figur
e 2.3
.3
e
.
Map showing the distribution of marm
ot (recording methods: all, n=63
).
Note that some cells yielded a number of independent records.
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-
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-
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Figure 2.3
.3
f
.
Map showing the distribution of the snow
cock (recording methods:
scat and other, n=26
).
Note that some cells yielded a number of
independent records.
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2.3.4. Siberian ibex distribution modeling
Principal component (PC) analysis
provided a comprehensive way to ana
lys
e the niche of
Siberian ibex
in the study area. In order to
capture various aspects of ibex ecology and
environme
ntal requirements of the species
,
we considered separately three categories of
predictor
variables: bioclimatic,
variables extracted from the Landsat image and terrain
features.
Precipitation was much higher in the western side of the study area (Fig. 2.3.
4a).
Figure 2.3.4a.
Precipitation (in mm) of Coldest Quarter (
bio19
).
Note the big difference between the western and eastern sides of the study area.
In the first case three PCs accounted for close to 94% of the variance in the data set
covering
all the bioclimatic variables extracted from the occurrence points within the range
of ibex in the study area. The first component (PC1) explained around 53% of the total
variance and is strongly associated with most of the temperature
-
related variables;
b
io1
(
Annual Mean Temperature) can be considered a suitable proxy for this component. In the
same way
bio19
(
Precipitation of Coldest Quarter
, Fig. 2.3.4a
) (PC2, ~35% of the total
variance) and
bio8
(
Mean Temperature of Wettest Quarter) can be selected for
mode
l
ling
purposes.
For
variables extracted from the Landsat image the first
two PCs accounted for around
80% of the variance in this particular data set. The first component explained around 55%
of the total variance and is associated with two highly cor
related variables, namely the
Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
(
2.3.4b
) and Greenness; arbitrarily the former is taken
as a proxy for PC1. PC2 is associated with both inversely correlated Wetness and
Average Brightness Temperature reflecting ground temperat
ure; once again, arbitrarily
Wetness is selected
as
the proxy variable.
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Figure 2.3.4b.
Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI). Bare soils are between 0 and 0.1, and vegetation over 0.1
;
values <0.5 characterise sparse vegetation. Increase in the positiv
e
EVI
value means greener vegetation.
The same logic applied to the terrain features singles out Slope (
2.3.4c
) (highly correlated
with the Terrain Ruggedness Index) and Aspect (
2.3.4d
).
Fig
ure 2.3.4c
.
Slope.
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Fig
ure 2.3.4d
.
Aspect.
From the
25 model runs, the average AUC was 0.884, with little variation in
area under
curve
(
AUC
)
between runs (SD=0.016)
, which indicates “good” discrimination abilities
(Swets 1988)
.
As the AUC test compares predicted contribution with the raw point data
from t
he field surveys, a value of 0.884 is a good fit of model to reality.
The averaged
output from these 25 model runs is shown in Figs
2.3.4e
–
g.
, depicting a
reas of predicted
probability of Siberian ibex occurrence
at
>0.4, >0.5 and >0.6, respectively.
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Figure 2
.3.4e
.
Areas of predicted probabilit
y of Siberian ibex occurrence >
0.4.
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-
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-
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Figure 2
.3.4f
.
Areas of predicted probability of Siberian ibex occurrence
>
0.5
.
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-
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Figure 2
.3.4g
.
Areas of predicted probability of Siberian i
bex occurrence
>
0.6.
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2.3.5
. Additional surveys
Evidence of other carnivores sharing snow leopard habitat was also recorded. These
included
the wolf (
Canis lupus
) and the r
ed fox
(
Vulpes vulpes
)
. Wolf signs were found in a
variety of places ranging from l
ow
lands to mountain passes (Fig. 2.3.5a
). Wolf is the major
predator currently preying on domestic livestock in the area.
V
illage
rs were found to be
deeply concerned about lives
tock losses to wolf depredation. This combined with t
he
perception that wolves
are an increas
ing threat to the economic well
-
being of villagers
contributed to the government policy of paying a substantial bo
unty for killing wolves
(Hazell
200
1). The Kyrgyz g
overnment spends up to 1 million Kyrgyzstani soms
(approx. £
12,000) annually
in support of
eradication measures. These measures (mass raids on
wolves, shooting
,
etc.) pose a threat to the snow leopard and/or the primary prey species.
Besides this, there is a high potential for conflicts between these two predators, especially
when
the diversity o
f profitable, large prey is low
(Jumabay
-
Uulu et al. 2013, Wang et al.
2014).
Figure 2.3.5a.
Distribution of the wolf (recording methods: scat and other, n=17).
Capturing images of the target species, camera
-
trap studies
,
commonly rec
ord numerous
additional species, although much of this extraneous data ha
s been historically
marginalis
ed and rarely published. It may, however, provide important information about
the biodiversity in the region, differences between areas, efficacy of prot
ected areas, and
documentation of species thought to be
locally extinct
(
McCarthy
et al. 2010)
. In
2014 this
particularly concerned
argali,
which before the expedition was
thought
not to be present in
the study area (as eviden
ced from talks of the NABU Gru
pa Bars with suspected
poachers), but
which was
photographed by the
2014
expedition.
However
,
no camera trap
photos
of
argali were recorded by the 2015
expedition,
meaning the
local
population could
be in steep decline.
Birds are convenient indicators of
biodiversity, at least at larger scales
,
and
as monitors of
environmental change (Furness & Greenwood 1993). One reason is that birds have long
been popular with naturalists, amateur and professional, and consequently their taxonomy
and distributions are b
etter known than
for
any oth
er comparable group of animals.
H
owever
,
only
a
few keen birdwatchers
were part of the team
this year
. Nevertheless, the
joint efforts of the
teams came up with a list of
46
bird species (
Appendix I
).
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Other n
oteworth
y mammal a
nd amphibian species
The manul (
Otocolobus manul
), also called the Pallas's cat, is a small wild cat with a broad
but fragmented distribution in the grasslands and montane steppes of Central Asia. It is
negatively affected by habitat degradation, prey bas
e decline and hunting, and has
therefore been classified as Near Threatened by
the
IUCN since 2002
(
Ross et al. 2005
).
One
track
presumably
made by a
manul
was
recorded
18
July in cell AE16 (in Dzhor
-
Bulak
V
alley, formerly know
n
to
participants as “no name
valley”) at an altitude of
3
,
653
m
.
The species is
also
listed in the Red Data Book of Kyrgyzstan (Status: VI category, Near
Threatened, NT).
Lynx (
Lynx lynx
) is not supposed to be found within the
study
region
;
however
,
o
ne scat
found on 30
June in cell
AI19 could
belong to this species. L
ynx is listed in the Red Data
Book of Kyrgyzstan (VI category, Near Threatened
,
NT
).
Beech marten (
Martes foina
) was repeatedly recorded
between the
28
June and the
17
July by a camera trap set in Chon
-
Chikan (
N
42.39
1278
o
,
E
74.692278
o
).
This species is
l
isted in the Red Data Book of Kyrgyzstan (VII category, Lower Risk/least concern
-
LR/lc).
Pewzow’s toad (
Bufo pewzowi
) (Fig. 2.3.5b)
has special scientific significance due to its
polyploid speciation,
in which the
entire genome is duplicated.
This is a
rare phenomenon
in an
imals in general (
Borkin et al. 1986
). Polyploid species occur in fewer than 5% of the
world’s amphibian species
. Records made by the expedition were
adult specimens and
tadpoles in cell W17, 10
June at approx.
2
,700 m
;
and
juvenile toads and crushed adults
on
a
road nearby camp 2, cell AC18, 22
July at approx
2
,910 m
.
Figure 2.3.5b
.
Pewzow’s toad (
Bufo pewzowi
) as photographed by the expedition.
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2.3.6. Outreach activities and interviews
Twe
nty
-
two interviews were
conducted
with the local community. These activities reached
17 adult herders (14 men and
three
women, aged between 18 and 73) and
five
children of
school age (9
–
15 years old). In most cases livestock was a mix of sheep, cows and
ho
rses, fewer goats (10 cases) and some poultry (8 cases).
Statements best describing feeling
s
towards snow leopards were overwhelmingly in favour
of the animal: “Strongly Like” and “Like” summed up 17 of the responses,
while
only
five
were “Indifferent”.
Interviewees declared that they liked the snow leopard because “
this is
our proud
”, “
beautiful and rare animal
”, “
beauty created by God
”, “
part of Nature
”, “
King of
the Mountains
”, “
dreaming to see it
”.
W
e found no “Dislike” attitude concerning the snow l
eopard
. Despite a few
“Indifferent”
responses,
19 interviewees consider the presence of the animal in their area as “a good
thing”.
The response to the question “Have you ever seen a snow leopard?” was in most cases
negative. In addition, some interviewe
es say they don’t even know anyone who ha
s seen
a snow leopard. Usually o
lder people respond positively
;
however
,
most of these records
date
as
far back as the 1960s
to
1990s. More recent
ly
(within the last
three
years)
,
snow
leopard tracks
have been found
in the snow (not clear where) and repeated sightings
were
made of the snow leopard itself in an area far away from our region of interest (Söök
Mountain Pass).
The question “How many snow leopards do you think live in the region?” seems to be
confusing:
eight
people could not give any kind of estimate at all (saying “
hard to answer
”).
Other estimates ranged from zero up to
ten, but most stated one or two
animals,
sometimes maybe up to six
.
Almost everybody (20 out of 22) answered that they were aware o
f the protected status of
the snow leopard, and most know that the species is listed in the Red Data Book of
Kyrgyzstan. One herder,
who
was not very sure on the protected status of the snow
leopard, knew that “
the President has
raised initiatives to prote
ct the snow leopard
”,
thereby referring to
the
Global Snow Leopard & Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP).
A community assessment of the impact of snow leopards on wildlife and
of
h
uman/predator relations (Table 2.3.6a
) shows that most
interviewees find s
now leopards
have no considerable or only a weak impact on large game (argali, ibex etc.). There is a
belief that
s
now leopards “
eat the sick and old animals, so this is a natural cleaning
process
”.
In a few cases the common and widespread myth in Centr
al Asia was repeated that
s
now
leopards feed exclusively on the blood of their prey: “
only drinks the blood, doesn’t eat
meat
”. According to Andrews (2002), this myth probably originated because of the
puncture marks cre
ated when the leopard suffocates
its
prey, but it has great symbolism.
The blood of anything is its life force. In
many
societies there existed the belief that what
one ate, one became. An animal that only took the blood and not the flesh may indicate
great discrimination so that only the po
wers and life force of the prey
are
assume
d and not
its weakness (symbolis
ed by the flesh).
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-
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-
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More
interviewees (even most of them) consider s
now leopards have no impact
on small
game (for instance, marmots). This is because they believe that small game is
not a part of
the diet of the predator.
Table 2.3.6a
.
Community assessment of the impact of snow leopards on wildlife and
of
human/predator relations.
Figures given are numbers of respondents.
Statement
Strongly
disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Str
ongly
agree
Snow leopards have a
considerable impact
on
large gam
e (argali, ibex
etc.)
8
4
2
3
1
Snow leopards have a considerable impact
on
small game (marmots etc.)
11
2
3
1
1
Snow leopards reduce populations of argali
and ibex to unacceptable levels
13
4
1
0
0
Snow leopard attacks on humans are more
frequent in regions where snow leopards
live in close proximity to humans
10
2
1
5
1
In regions where snow leopards live in close
proximity to livestock, they
feed primarily on
domestic animals
9
4
3
5
0
We already have enough snow leopards in
the region
7
2
6
3
0
Most
interviewees agree that snow leopards cannot reduce populations of argali and ibex
to unacceptable levels, because “
snow leopards just kill for food, maybe once every
two
weeks
”, meaning
their demand is low. Some blamed hunters for reducing ibex numbers,
thus causing the decline of the snow leopard population (“
the snow leopard is leaving the
area
”). Wolves are blamed as well: “
snow leopards kill one animal, whereas wolves kill
many at a
time
”
.
About one third of the interviewees
believed
snow leopards can
attack
humans
;
however
,
nobody has been a witne
ss of such an attack
. Most of these have been stories told by
somebody else.
Livestock depredation
by
the snow leopard
does not appear
t
o be a major issue, because
there “
are too few
” and attacks can take place “
only when the animal is very hungry
” or
“
when they can’t find other food
”. Instead, as in the previous year, there were many
complaints concerning wolves: “
wolves attack livestock,
but not snow leopards
”.
The majority of interviewees found it a
“
good thing
”
if snow leopards attracted more
tourists to the region, because this could create more job opportunities. Many would be
ready to sell local products (meat, cheese,
kumis
, felt carpets etc.) and/or develop tourist
-
based businesses.
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-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
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Conservation
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50
2.3.7
. Petroglyphs
–
rock art
In addition to the biological surveys,
participants
compile
d
an exten
sive database,
consisting of 17
8 georeferenced
records
,
of rock art in the stud
y area, grouped into
clusters
(
Fig.
2.3.7a).
The largest cluster occupies the upper reaches of the West Karakol
R
iver and its tributaries, particularly within the Sary
-
Köl area, which we have named the
“Sary
-
Köl Petroglyph S
ite”. Other such sites are: “Cholok
-
Tor”, “Kashka
-
Tor”, “Kara
-
Tor”
and “Dunguruma”.
Rock drawings here appear to have been made in two ancient artistic styles. The first
technique was silhouette or shadow, typical of many ancient pictures. Blows were made
with a metallic or stone instrument to take out the entire surface of the rock nearly 2 mm
deep inside the silhouette. Some pictures were beaten by blunt tools
,
which removed only
a thin
sunburnt rock layer
(called
varnish
)
, and this is typical of later periods. Another
technique used tools with
sharp edges and frequent blows, producing
a deep line
engraved in the rock.
The total number of registered rock art sites in Kyrgyzstan is still unclea
r, as
reports by
specialists
show
different figures. The State Register of Historical and Cultural Sites of
Kyrgyzstan (2002) includes 23 locations that have s
tatus of national significance; i
n
addition, some are on the List of Sites of Lo
cal Importance
(A
bdykanova, 2014).
The majority of the petroglyphs represent ibexes. The depiction of ibexes in the ancient
art
s
may involve a variety of meanings, of which the most common concerns prowess,
which is seen as a symbol of masculinity, power, abundance, ferti
lity and long life (
Karimi
2007
). Other drawings represent human and animal figures, including hunting scenes.
Some of these figures depict, for instance, red deer
–
a species
rarely
met today in the
study area. Nevertheless, their prolific representation
in rock art suggests that the deer
was once a common species.
Canids are
recognis
able by fairly short legs, short
,
upri
ght pointed ears and long tails, but
are difficult to identify with accuracy. Straight tails might be indicative of dogs or wolves.
Car
nivores identified by a long thin tail curled at the tip could be snow leopards (Fig.
2
.3.
7
b
).
Contrary to the majority of rock art themes, one
example
clearly stand
s
out amongst
others by depicting Chinese
characters (Fig. 2.3.7c
).
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-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
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Conservation
of Nature
51
Figure 2.3.7a.
Petroglyph sites in the study area: distribution (triangles
–
2014, circles
–
2015 data)
and their joint density (contours derived from a kernel density map produced in
SAGA GIS
2.2.7
).
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
the
Conservation
of Nature
52
Figure 2.3.7b.
Creatures
with
long thin tails curled at the
tip are perhaps snow leopards.
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
the
Conservation
of Nature
53
Figure 2.3.7c.
Inscription depicting Chinese characters (“Peace under the sky”).
2.4. Discussion and c
onclusions
Understanding the factors influencing Siberian ibex in the study region
Siberian ibex
occurs
across the
mountains of Pakistan, China, India, Afghanistan,
Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Russia and Tajikistan
(Shackleton 1997),
mainly occupying
rocky mountainous regions, both open meadows and cliffs,
and
coming
down t
o low elevations
during win
ter
. The species does n
ot enter densely forested areas
and
in
summer on hot days seeks
shaded areas under rocks or plants, remain
ing
in
steep
escape terrain
.
The diet of ibex consists mainly of grass and sedges, flowers, twigs and
moss. It is crepuscular i
n feeding, foraging mostly in
the
early morning hours
as well as in
the evening
. They come down from their steep habitats during late afternoon and evening
to the alpine meadows below to feed. During the summer, ibexes need to drink water
every other day a
nd therefore seek regions where there is a dependable water source.
Ibex live
in small groups (6
–
30 animals) varying considerably in size,
and
rarely in herds of
>100 animals (Fedosenko
&
Blank
2001). In the study area groups
rarely
exceed 20
individuals.
Since
wild sheep (argali) seem to occur
in the study site in very low numbers,
snow leopards
in the
area
are likely
depend on
ibex
as a primary food source.
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
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Conservation
of Nature
54
The presence of
a
species depends upon the specific environmental conditions that
enable it to sur
vive and reproduce (
Marzluff & Ewing 2001
). Understanding the factors
influencing its existence is a basic requirement for the assessment of the species
distribution and devising efficient species conservation
strategies (
Wein 2002
). This
knowledge help
s
t
o focus efforts on protecting the prey species snow leopards rely on the
most.
Unfortunately
wild prey animals are poached for meat and sport hunting, decreasing
population sizes. In order to protect these animals, there is a need to create conservation
program
me
s and designate areas that address the issues of overgrazing and poaching.
Among the various tools used in conservation planning to protect biodiversity, species
distribution models (SDMs), also known as climate envelope models, habitat suitabili
ty
models and ecological niche models
,
provide a way to identify the potential habitat of a
species in an ecoregion
. Applications of such models
have increased exponentially (for an
ov
erview see
Research Fronts 2014
).
SDMs are based on the concept of the “
ecological
niche” (
Hutchinson 1957
), which can be defined as the sum of the environmental factors
that a species needs for its survival and reproduction. When applied to species, all SDMs
are based on the assumption of niche conservatism (
Wiens & Graham 20
05
) and rarely
consider biotic interactions (
Guisan & Thuiller 2005, Elith & Leathwick, 2009
). Moreover,
these techniques are based on observed occurrence or abundance data a
nd therefore
estimate the realis
ed niche or the
potential niche (i.e. the realis
ed
niche assessed from a
reduced number of ecological dimensions).
Many niche models are based purely on
climate variables
,
because these data are readily available, covering large spatial scales.
SDMs predict the potential distribution of a species by inter
polating identified relationships
between presence/absence or presence
-
only data of a species on
the
one hand and
environmental predictors on the other
,
across an area of interest.
From the array of various
applications
available
,
Maxent
(
Phillips et al. 2006
) stands out because it has been found
to perform best among many different model
l
ing
methods (
Elith et al. 2006
) and may
remain effective despite small sample sizes.
Maxent
is a maximum en
tropy based
machine learning program that estimates the probability distribution for a species’
occurrence based on environment
al constraints (
Phillips et al. 2006
). It requires only
species presence data (not absence) and environmental variable (continuou
s or
categorical) layers for the study area. Spatial (habitat) and temporal (seasons) variables
define the ecological niche of a certain species within a given environment.
On both expeditions over the two
past years
,
there have been no direct observation
s of
ibex in valleys; the lowest altitude at which a number of ibex
were discovered was 3044 m
.
This was at the tip of the moraine Sary
-
Kol and occurred at a time (in 2015) when there
were no herders around
,
because the Karakol Pass was blocked
by snow. On
the whole,
direct observations of ibex have been made within the range of 3
,
044 to 4
,
159 m (average
around 3
,
600
m
). In the winter time these figures will be different, but we are modelling the
summer distribution of the species. Of course, there is a the
oretical probability that ibex
may be found in valleys, but this probability is below the figure of 0.4. Using this fairly low
threshold, the model shows (Figure 2.3.4e) that areas with probabilities of ibex occurrence
exceeding 0.4 are almost entirely
in
high mountain terrain.
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
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Conservation
of Nature
55
In terms of nature conservation planning and setting snow leopard research priorities
,
a
reas of predicted probability of Siberian ibex occurrence >0.6 (i.e. 60%)
are
the
areas of
greatest interest. The
results of modelling show tha
t the
se
areas
include heads and
surrounding ridges of the streams Ayu
-
Ter and Kuyke
-
Bulak, ridges in
between and
surrounding Chon
-
Chikan and Chaartash streams, upper parts and surrounding ridges of
the Choloktor stream,
as well as
an area in
between
the up
per reaches of Issyk
-
Ata,
neighbo
u
ring Kara
-
Tor stream. In the south
,
model
l
ing indicates ridges around the
Kashka
-
Tor stream as a priority area.
In line with
the cell methodology used in the expedition surveys,
these
areas are more or
less encompassed b
y the following cells: Y15, Y16, Z16, AB16, AC16, AE1
6, AF16, AE20,
AG15, AH15, AI15, as well as AH13 and AI13, which
can be accessed only from the
northern side of the Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too Range.
Excluding cells AH13 and AI13, these
comprise a fairly small port
ion of the cells covered by the expedition (14% in 2014, and
20% in 2015).
Interestingly, the upper reaches of Issyk
-
Ata and Kashka
-
Tor are exactly the
places where snow leopard pugmarks were recorded this year.
Conclusions
On an expedition such as thi
s, covering a large area of remote, rough and broken terrain,
it is difficult to
find signs of snow leopard and its primary
prey species, especially during
the absence of prolonged, continuous snow cover. Ungulates and carnivores favo
u
r higher
ground and a
re more dispersed during the summer season and snow leopard signs are
harder to find.
Evidence from local people, and an attack on a foal in 2014, indicated that snow leopard
was present in the surveyed area and confirmed the importance of the study area
as a
habitat for snow leopard.
Prolonged a
nd continuous snow cover in 2015
considerably
raised the efficacy of the research, resulting in the discovery of fresh signs of snow leopard
presence.
Evidence from local people
indicated that snow leopard was pre
sent in the surveyed area
and confirmed the importance of the study area as a habitat for snow leopard.
However,
no independent confirmation of snow leopard presence was found by the extensive sign
surveys or through camera
-
trapping.
The expedition has al
so shown that the habitat in the study area (and beyond) is
sufficiently varied and capable of sustaining a healthy prey base for the snow leopard. The
developing relationship between the predator and prey species could be very fragile, so
any decline (as
confirmed this year, a special concern are argali) in the prey species may
drive the snow leopard out of the area. Indeed, poaching (both in the past and today) and
growing disturbance may be the main factors for driving animals out of the site, a notion
p
erceived as well by local stakeholders.
Overgrazing by livestock is a
significant
problem, particularly at lower altitudes
. H
igher
places are affected too, particularly in the later summer season. As a priority
recognis
ed
by NABU staff, improved anti
-
poa
ching control together with a temporary ban on hunting
could have an immediate impact on halting the decline of prey species and, by inference,
snow leopards.
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-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
the
Conservation
of Nature
56
Further research is needed to
confirm snow leopard presence and
monitor snow leopard
and prey po
pulation tren
ds in the survey area. Presence/
absence surveys will need to be
repeated in
the coming
years, using camera traps from the very beginning of the survey.
Finding a trail and/or relic scrape(s) is a high priority. If either of these can be found,
remote camera
-
trapping would be enhanced as a survey tool
.
These efforts can be guided
by model
l
ing exercises
as above
, showing places where basic requirements for Siberian
ibex, upon which snow leopards rely the most, are met to a significant degree.
Wi
th the collapse of the Soviet Union much of the area under study was abandoned by
nomadic herders and henceforth a slow recovery of wildlife has occurred, though the
vegetation still bears the traces of human disturbance. However, the current growth of the
population in the country and
increased de
velopment may nullify this positive trend and
drive the snow leopard out of the area.
Under these circumstances
,
there is an urgent need for research (population & life history
parameters, threats), site protect
ion and management.
Liaising with local people
, who by and large have positive attitudes towards snow leopard
presence in the area,
will continue to play a key part in the research. Continued dialogue
with herders is important, not only to find out what h
as happened in between expedition
periods, but
also
to involve them more fully in the research (for instance, maintenance of
the camera traps) and explore possibilities of benefiting the local community.
The friendly
attitude towards the snow leopard expre
ssed by the majority of local people could be the
key to
the
success
of such initiatives
.
Recommendations for the 2016 expedition:
Concentrate surveys on high probability Siberian ibex areas as derived by
modelling. This means concentrating on cells Y1
5, Y16, Z16, AB16, AC16, AE16,
AF16, AE20, AG15, AH15, AI15, as well as perhaps AH13 and AI13, but these cells
can only be accessed from the northern side of the Kyrgyz Ala
-
Too Range (an
option for the gap between slot 1 and 2, if an appropriate team of NA
BU staff and
volunteers can be arranged).
In addition to using the cell methodology adopted by Biosphere Expeditions for
volunteer expeditions,
expedition
participants
and the scientist should take
into
account any kind of point data (first and foremost o
f primary prey species, Siberian
ibex and argali, espe
cially sightings) for modeling,
research design and planning
purposes.
Implement the revised
version of the questionnaire
(kindly reviewed by John Soos
in 2015, see appendix
II
)
for gathering local kn
owledge about the area and
recording snow leopard presence and attitudes towards the species.
Continue to build relationships with herders and establish who amongst them is
willing and able to help with year
-
round camera trap studies. Establish equipment
and remuneration needs required for this.
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-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
the
Conservation
of Nature
57
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Schaller, G.B., Hong, L., Hua, L., Junrang, R., Mingjiang, Q., Haibin, W. (1987) Status of
large mammals in the Taxkorgan Reserve, Xinjiang, China. Biological Conservation 42
(1)
:
53
–
71.
Schweiger, A.K., Sc
hütz, M., Anderwald, P. (
2
015
)
Foraging ecology of three sympatric
ungulate species
-
Behavioural and resource maps indicate differences between chamois,
ibex and red deer. Mov. Ecol.
3: 6
-
12
.
Shackleton, D.M. (ed.) and the IUCN
/SSC Caprinae Specialist Group (1997)
Wild Sheep
and
Goats and their Relatives. Status S
urvey and Conservation Action Pl
an for Caprinae.
IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. 390 + vii pp.
Sn
ow Leopard Working Secretariat (2013)
Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem
Protection Program Bishkek, Kyrgyz Repu
blic. 73 pp.
Swets K.
(1988)
Measuring the ac
curacy of diagnostic systems. Science 240:
1285
–
1293.
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-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
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Conservation
of Nature
60
Wang J., Laguardia A., Damerell P.J. et al. (2014) Dietary overlap of snow leopard and
other carnivores in the Pamirs of Northwestern China
. Chinese Scienc
e Bulletin
59
(25):
3162
-
3168.
Wein, J. (2002)
Predicting species occurrences: progress, problems, and prospects. In:
Predicting Species Occurrence
s. Issues of Accuracy and Scale. Island Press,
pp. 739
–
749.
Wiens J. J., Graham C. H.
(2005)
Niche conserva
tism: integrating evolution, ecolo
gy, and
conservation biology. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst. (36): 5
19
–
539.
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case study in the Lower Hunter Central Coast
region of NS
W. Austral Ecology (30):
719
–
738.
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-
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-
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Conservation
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61
3
.
Butterflies of the Suusamyr Valley, Kyrgyzstan
(Lepidoptera, Diurna)
Amadeus DeKastle
Plateau Perspectives
3
.1
.
Introduction
Although the Suusamyr Valley
(Fig 3.1a)
is only 7
–
8 hours away by car from Bishkek, the
ca
pital city of Kyrgyzstan, this region is very poorly studied in regard to its ecology.
Information on butterfly distributions in this region is lacking in most currently available
resources. As a result, the data presented
here
provide new information that
enhances our
understanding of the distribution of many of these butterflies.
Figure 3.1a.
S
uusamyr
V
alley
(yellow)
area studied, including data points for each butterfly observation
.
3.2. Materials and methods
Data
were collected during the
Bi
osphere Expedit
ions project
during the summer of 2015
in July and August. Citizen scientists from around the world were present during four 12
-
day trips
over which
t
he expedition took place.
Although the main duties of the expedition
were not related to bu
tterfly identification and distribution mapping, efforts were made by
many
participants
to c
atalogue the butterflies seen.
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-
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This was done by taking an image of the butterfly,
and
writing down the image file name
(determined by the camera) and GPS coordina
tes taken at the time of the sighting onto a
spreadsheet
provided
.
Identification verification was later done on the basis of these
images, thereby providing the r
aw data for distribution maps.
As this was only the first
summer that this aspect of the expe
dition was implemented, the numbers are quite low
.
H
owever, we expect future surveys to provide much more data, especially with the future
implementation of the “Butterflies of Kyrgyzstan” smartphone application being produced
by the author (ava
ilable in 2
016).
3.3. Results
I
n all, 20 species were identified
with 77 individual sightings. All of these species provide
location data new to science.
Table 3.3a.
Butterflies of the Suusamyr Valley, Kyrgyzstan, Biosphere Expeditions, July
–
August 2015.
Famil
y
Scientific Name
Common
English N
ame
Hesperiidae
Pyrgus malvae
Grizzled s
kipper
Lycaenidae
Cupido buddhista
Buddhist b
lue
Nymphalidae
Aglais urticae
Small
t
ortoiseshell
Boloria generator
No Common Name (NCN)
Clossiana erubescens
NCN
Issoria latho
nia
Queen of Spain
f
ritillary
Melitaea solona
NCN
Papilionidae
Papilio machaon
Old World s
wallowtail
Parnassius delphius
Banded
apollo
Parnassius mnemosyne
Clouded a
pollo
Parnassius tianschanicus
Large
-
keeled a
pollo
Pieridae
Colias erate
Pal
e clouded y
ellow
Pieris bryoniae
Dark
-
veined w
hite
Pieris napi
Green
-
veined w
hite
Pontia callidice
Lofty Bath w
hite
Pontia daplidice
Bath
w
hite
Satyridae
Coenonympha caeca
NCN
Coenonympha sunbecca
NCN
Erebia mopsos
NCN
Erebia sokolovi
NC
N
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-
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63
S
pecies profile
s
Species profiles include
photographs, natura
l history and distribution maps for
each
species observed during the expedition.
Note that a
ll photographs and maps are the
property of the owner (unless otherwise noted) and only permitte
d for use outside this
report
with proper permission.
Pyrgus malvae
-
Grizzled s
kipper
Flight time
May to early July
Elevation (m)
1,000
–
3,000
Habitat
Forest clearings, moun
tainous
meadows, steppes
Food plants
Potentilla
spp.
(cinquefoil) and
Rosa
s
pp. (wild rose)
Life cycle
Eggs laid singly on host plant. Species overwinters as an egg. Likely
univoltine.
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-
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-
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Cupido buddhista
-
Buddhist b
lue
Flight time
June to September
Elevation (m)
2,300
–
3,400
Habitat
Alpine biomes with
many
herbaceo
us plants
Food plants
Oxytropis
spp. (locoweed)
Life cycle
Unknown
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-
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-
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65
Aglais urticae
-
Small t
ortoiseshell
Flight time
April
to September
Elevation (m)
3,000
–
4,000
Habitat
Open areas and mountain gorges with a high density of the host pl
ant
Food plants
Urtica
spp. (stinging nettle)
Life cycle
Adults overwinter in a state of hib
ernation begun around October.
They emerge during early
spring.
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-
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Boloria generator
Flight time
July
to September
Elevation (m)
2,500
–
4,500
Habitat
Moist mountain meadows and stream banks
Food plants
Polygonum alpinum
(Alpine k
notweed)
Life cycle
Unknown
Photo courtes
y of Barbara Schirmer
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-
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-
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67
Clossiana erubescens
Flight time
June to August
Elevation (m)
2,000
–
3,600
Habitat
Mountain meadows and
stream valleys
Food plants
Violaceae (violets and pansies)
Life cycle
Unknown
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-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
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68
Issoria lathonia
—
Queen of Spain
f
ritillary
Flight time
April to October
Elevation (m)
up to 3,500
Habitat
Low elevation plains up to
subalpine biomes
Foo
d plants
Violaceae (violets and pansies)
Life cycle
Species can overwinter as a larva or pupa. Bivoltine or multivoltine.
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-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
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69
Melitaea solona
Flight time
June to July
Elevation (m)
2,700
–
4,000
Habitat
Humid alpine meadows
Food plants
Pedi
cularis
spp. (lousewort)
Life cycle
Unknown
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-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
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Papilio machaon
-
Old W
orld s
wallowtail
Flight time
April to November
Elevation (m)
Unknown
Habitat
Found in virtually any ecosystem from lowlands to high mountains
Food plants
Prangos
spp.,
Artemisia
spp.
(w
ormwood),
Haplophylum
spp.,
Ferula
spp.
Life cycle
Eggs laid singly on host plant.
Overwinters as a pupa.
Pupal
diapause up to
three years before adult emergence.
Uni
-
or bivoltine
depending on location.
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-
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Parnassius delphius
-
Banded a
pollo
Flight time
June to
July
Elevation (m)
3,000
–
4,0
00
Habitat
Western facing rocky slopes, scree
fields
and mountain meadows
Food plants
Cysticorydalis fedtschenkoana
,
Corydalis tenella
(discreet c
orydalis),
Corydalis gortschakovi
Life
cycle
Follows a two
-
year life cycle. Initially overwinters as an egg hatching
in spring. Larvae feed for
one
year then overwinter as pupae the
second winter.
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-
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-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
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Officially accredited member of the International Union for
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Conservation
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© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
the
Conservation
of Nature
73
Parnassius mnemosyne
—
Clouded
a
pollo
Flight time
May to July
Elevation (m)
1,
300
–
3,0
00
Habitat
Grassy stepped slopes as well as mountain valleys and river terraces
Food plants
Corydalis ledebouriana
and
Corydalis glaucescens
Life cycle
Overwinters as an egg
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-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
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Conservation
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74
Parnassius tianschanicus
—
Large
-
k
eeled
a
pollo
Fligh
t time
May to September
Elevation (m)
1,700
–
3,5
00
Habitat
East
-
and south
-
facing rocky slopes in subalpine and alpine areas
Food plants
Rhodiola
spp.,
Sedum ewersii
(s
tonecrop),
Sedum hybridum
Life cycle
Overwinters as a larva
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-
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-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
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Colias erate
-
Pale clouded y
ellow
Flight time
April to October
Elevation (m)
up to 3,3
00
Habitat
Step
pes, fields and mountain
meadows
Food plants
Onobrychis
spp.
(sainfoin),
Medicago
spp.
(b
urclover),
Trifolium
spp.
(c
lover),
Trigonel
la
spp
. (f
enugreek),
Alhagi
spp.
(c
amelthorn)
Life cycle
Bivoltine. Overwinters as either a pupa or larva.
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-
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-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
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Conservation
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76
Pieris bryoniae
-
Dark
-
veined w
hite
Flight time
June to
July
Elevation (m)
up to 2,7
00
Habitat
Damp foothills and meadows
Food p
lants
Thlaspi
spp.
(p
ennycress)
Life cycle
Overwinters as a pupa
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-
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-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
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Pieris napi
—
Green
-
veined w
hite
Flight time
April to September
Elevation (m)
up to 3
,000
Habitat
Meadows and river valleys
Food plants
Brassica
spp. (cabbage),
Cardamine
spp. (bittercress),
Alyssum
spp.,
Arabis
spp. (rockcress),
Barbarea
spp. (winter cress),
Descurainia
spp. (tansymustard),
Erysimum
spp. (wallflower),
Sisymbrium
spp.
(rocket),
Thlaspi
spp. (pennycress),
Draba
spp.
(whitlow
-
grass),
Lepidium
spp. (peppercre
ss),
Reseda lutea
(wild mignonette).
Life cycle
Bivoltine or multivolt
ine depending on the altitude.
Eggs are laid
singly. Overwinters as a pupa.
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-
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-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
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Pontia callidice
-
Lofty B
ath w
hite
Flight time
May to September
Elevation (m)
2,000
–
4,5
00
Habitat
South
facing
river valleys and steppe slopes
Food plants
Brassica
spp. (cabbage),
Alyssum
spp.,
Arabis
spp. (rockcress),
Barbarea
spp. (winter cress),
Descurainia
spp. (tansymustard),
Erysimum
spp. (wallflower),
Sisymbrium
spp. (rocket),
Thlaspi
spp.
(pennycress),
Draba
spp.
(whitlow
-
grass),
Lepidium
spp.
(peppercress),
Reseda lutea
(wild mignonette)
,
Orostachys
spp.
(Chinese h
at)
Life cycle
Bivoltine.
Second generation hibernates as a pupa.
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-
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-
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Pontia daplidice
-
Bath w
hite
Flight
time
April to October
Elevation (m)
500
–
4,0
00
Habitat
Deserts, steppes, river valleys
Food plants
Alyssum
spp.,
Arabis
spp. (rockcress),
Berteroa
spp.
(h
oary
a
lison),
Erysimum
spp. (wallflower),
Sisymbrium
spp. (rocket),
Thlaspi
spp.
(pennycress),
Rese
da lutea
(wild mignonette)
,
Vicia
spp. (v
etch),
Lathyrus
spp.
(s
weet
p
ea),
Pisum
spp.
(p
ea),
Trifolium
spp. (c
lover)
.
Life cycle
Multivoltine. Overwintering generation does so as a pupa.
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-
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-
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Coenonympha caeca
Flight time
June to
July
Elevatio
n (m)
2,000
–
3,5
00
Habitat
Alpine meadows, stream banks, and stoney slopes that face
eastward
Food plants
Carex
spp.
(s
edge)
Life cycle
Unknown
Photo courtesy of Rahat Yusubalieva
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-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
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81
Clossiana erubescens
Flight time
June to August
Elevat
ion (m)
1,500
–
3,4
00
Habitat
Sloped meadows and stream banks
Food plants
Poaceae (g
rasses)
Life cycle
Unknown
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-
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-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
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82
Erebia mopsos
Flight time
June to
July
Elevation (m)
2,8
00
–
3,5
00
Habitat
Meadow slopes in subalpine and alpine areas
Food p
lants
Festuca
spp.
(f
escue)
Life cycle
Unknown
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-
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-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
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83
Erebia sokolovi
Flight time
July
to August
Elevation (m)
3
,000
–
3,600
Habitat
Meadow slopes in subalpine and alpine areas
Food plants
Poaceae (g
rasses)
Life cycle
Unknown
Photo courte
sy of Peter Sporrer
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-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
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3.4. Discussion and conclusions
It is important to remember that the Suusamyr region of Kyrgyzstan, although relatively
close geographically to the capitol, Bishkek, has been very poorly studied in terms of
entomological divers
ity. As such, this study appears to be the first real effort to catalogue
butterfly species found there.
Of the 20 species found by
the
expedition, 13 were also found on the northern side of the
Alatoo mountain range, in Ala Archa National Park
,
during
the summer of 2015. This
suggests that seven of the 20 species are not found on the northern side, although more
collection is needed from both sides to confirm this
.
These seven species are
Pyrgus
malvae, Cupido buddhista, Boloria generator, Parnassius de
lphius, Parnassius
tianschanicus, Coenonympha caeca,
and
Erebia sokolovi.
Recommendations for 2016:
The 2016 expedition should use the smartphone app
“
Butterflies of Kyrgyzstan
”,
a
citizen science app that will
allow
expedition participants to collect da
ta upon sighting
butterflies. This will speed up both the data collection and the data input processes. It will
also allow for better verification of each species observation. The app is being developed
by the author.
A clearer understanding by expedition
participants of the sub
-
project of collecting
information on the observations of butterflies will increase the number of sightings and
thereby should also increase the number of species observed. As such the author will
conduct training of participants an
d staff during the first expedition group, to be taken
over by expedition staff for subsequent groups when the author will not be present on the
expedition.
3.5. Resources
Ackery, P.R. (1975) A guide to the genera and species of Parnassiinae (Lepidoptera
:
Papilionidae). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology 31 (4): 71
-
106.
Korb, S.K. (2011) A distributive list, biotope preferences and flight periods of butterflies of
North Tian Shan (Lepidoptera, Diurna). Atalanta 42 (1
–
4): 149
–
18
9.
Милько, Д.А. (2016). Насекомые Нарынского Заповедника. Из
-
Басма. Бишкек
Toropov, S.A., Zhdanko, A.B. (2006) The Butterflies (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea) of
Dzhungar, Tien Shan, Alai and Eastern Pamirs, Volume 1: Papilionidae, Pieridae,
Satyridae. Al Salam
Publishing. Bishkek.
Toropov, S.A., Zhdanko, A.B. (2009) The Butterflies (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea) of
Dzhungar, Tien Shan, Alai and Eastern Pamirs, Volume 2: Danaidae, Nymphalidae,
Libytheidae, Riodinidae, Lycaenidae. Al Salam Publishing. Bishkek.
Tshikolovets, V.V. (2005) The Butterflies of Kyrgyzstan. Brno
-
Kiev.
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-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
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the
Conservation
of Nature
85
Appendix I:
List of bird species recor
ded during th
e 2015
expedition.
Latin name
English name
Русское название
Acanthis cannabina
Linnet
Коноплянка
Actitis hypoleucos
Common sandpiper
Перевозчик
Anthus spinoletta
Water pipit
Горный конек
Anthus trivialis
Tree pipit
Лесной конёк
Aquila chrysaetos
Golden eagle
Беркут
Aquila heliaca
Imperial eag
le
Могильник
Asio flammea
Short
-
eared owl
Болотная сова
Buteo buteo
Common buzzard
Обыкновенный канюк
Buteo rufinus
Long
-
legged buzzard
Курганник
Calliope pectoralis
Himalayan rubythroat
Черногрудая красношейка
Carduelis carduelis
Goldfinch
Черноголов
ый щегол
Carpodacus erythrinus
Common rosefinch
Обыкновенная чечевица
Cinclus cinclus
Dipper
Белобрюхая оляпка
Corvus corax
Raven
Ворон
Corvus corone
Carrion crow
Черная ворона
Cuculus canorus
Common cuckoo
Обыкновенная кукушка
Delichon urbicum
North
ern house martin
Городская ласточка
Emberiza buchanani
Grey
-
necked bunting
Каменная овсянка
Eremophila alpestris
Horned lark
Рогатый жаворонок
Falco cherrug
Saker falcon
Балобан
Falco peregrinus
Peregrine falcon
Сапсан
Falco subbuteo
Hobby
Чеглок
Gyp
aetus barbatus
Bearded vulture
Бородач
Gyps himalayensis
Himalayan griffon
Кумай
Ibidorhyncha struthersii
Ibisbill
Серпоклюв
Leucosticte brandti
Brandt’s rosefinch
Жемчужный вьюрок
Locustella naevia
Grasshopper warbler
Обыкновенный сверчок
Melanocoryp
ha calandra
Calandra lark
Степной жаворонок
Milvus migrans
Black kite
Черный коршун
Monticola saxatilis
Rock thrush
Пестрый каменный дрозд
Motacilla cinerea
Grey wagtail
Горная
трясогу
́
зка
Motacilla citreola
Сitrine wagtail
Желтоголовая трясогузка
Mot
acilla flava
Yellow wagtail
Жёлтая
трясогу
́
зка
Oenanthe oenanthe
Wheatear
Каменка обыкновенная
Phoenicurus erythrogaster
Guldenstadt’s redstart
Краснобрюхая горихвостка
Phoenicurus erythronotus
Eversmann's redstart
Красноспинная горихвостка
Phylloscopu
s humei
Hume's leaf warbler
Пеночка тусклая
Pica pica
Magpie
Сорока
Prunella collaris
Alpine accentor
Альпийская завирушка
Pyrrhocorax graculus
Alpine chough
Альпийская галка
Saxicola torquata
Stonechat
Черноголовый чекан
Sylvia communis
Common whitet
hroat
Серая славка
Tadorna tadorna
Shelduck
Пеганка
Tetraogallus himalayensis
Himalayan snowcock
Гималайский улар
Tichodroma muraria
Wall creeper
Стенолаз
Tringa ochropus
Green sandpiper
Черныш
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
the
Conservation
of Nature
86
Appendix
I
I:
Revised community questionnaire.
FIELD DATA
SHEET: INTERVIEW
You will be visiting local people to find out about their knowledge, beliefs and attitudes about snow leopards.
This is also an opportunity to obtain information about their observations of wildlife. Snow leopard
conservation is, to a sig
nificant degree, dependent on the understanding that people have about the snow
leopard and of their relationship to the animal. This interview is an opportunity to gain a better understanding
of the interactions between snow leopards and the Kyrgyz people
.
Interviews are to be conducted in an informal, conversational style. In order to establish rapport and help
create a relaxed atmosphere, begin by introducing yourself and state that you are interested in learning
about what local people think and feel a
bout snow leopards in this area. Emphasize that there are no right or
wrong answers, and that you are simply interested in hearing about their ideas and experiences with snow
leopards.
Prior to the interview, ask if there are any questions. Once their qu
estions are answered, start the process
with, “Is it alright for us to proceed?”Explain that you will be referring to this questionnaire as we go along in
order to make sure that everyone is asked the same questions.
INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY:
DATE OF INTERV
IEW:
PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE INTERVIEWEE
NAME: ________________________________
AGE:__________
GENDER: male
❒
female
❒
PLACE OF RESIDENCE:___________________________
PLACE OF BIRTH:____________
_____
OCCUPATION: _________________________________
If you work with livestock, what kind of animals and how many? (“many” is optional).
SHEEP
❒
_____ GOATS
❒
_
____ COWS
❒
_____ HORSES
❒
_____ POULTRY
❒
INFORMATION ABOUT SNOW LEOPARDS
I would like to ask you some questions about snow leopards.
1. Have you ever seen a snow leopard, or signs of a snow leopard?
❒
YES,
Seen a snow leopard (ASK QUES
TION 2a)
❒
YES
, Seen signs of a snow leopard (ASK QUESTION 2b)
❒
NO
, Never seen a snow leopard or signs of a snow leopard
❒
YES
, Do you know a person that has seen a snow leopard or signs of a snow leopard
❒
NO
, Do you know a person that has seen a snow leop
ard or signs of a snow leopard
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
the
Conservation
of Nature
87
2a. If you saw a snow leopard, can you tell me about that please.
a. When did you see it?
b. Where did you see it?
c. What was it doing?
d. How do you feel about having seen a snow leopard?
❒
Excited
❒
Not excited
2b. If you saw signs of a snow leopard, such as tracks in the snow for example (but not an actual
snow leopard)
-
a. What did you see?
b. When did you see this?
c. Where did you see this?
d. How do you feel about having seen signs of a snow leopard?
❒
Excited
❒
Not excited
3. The presence of snow leopards has a
❒
beneficial or
❒
detrimental impact on this area?
(In your view, are they
❒
good or
❒
bad for the country?)
Can you tell me a little more about the impact that snow leopards have on
Kyrgyzstan?
4. Can you tell me how you feel about snow leopards in general?
Do you like, dislike or feel neutral about snow leopards?
❒
LIKE
❒
DISLIKE
❒
NEITHER
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
the
Conservation
of Nature
88
5. Do snow leopards attack people?
❒
YES
❒
NO
❒
DON
’
T KNOW
If YES
: What
makes snow leopard attacks on people?
If snow leopards attack people, are these attacks are more frequent in places where snow leopards live
near people?
❒
YES
❒
NO
❒
DON
’
T KNOW
6. How many snow leopards are there in Kyrgyzstan? ___________
❒
DON
’
T KNOW
7. Are snow leopards protected in Kyrgyzstan?
❒
YES
❒
NO
❒
DON
’
T KNOW
In your opinion, should snow leopards be legally protected in Kyrgyzstan?
❒
YES
❒
NO
❒
DON
’
T KNOW
Can you tell me more about that?
THE E
FFECT OF SNOW LEOPARDS ON OTHER ANIMALS
8. Do snow leopards reduce the number of large game animals such as ibex or argali sheep in
this area?
❒
YES
❒
NO
❒
DON’T KNOW
IF YES:
How do snow leopards reduce the numbers of large animals?
IF NO:
Why do you think snow leopards do not reduce the number of large animals?
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
the
Conservation
of Nature
89
9. Do snow leopards reduce the number of small animals such as marmots and snowcock in the
area?
❒
YES
❒
NO
❒
DON
’
T KNOW
IF YES:
Hoe do
snow leopards reduce the number
of small animals?
IF NO:
Why do you think that snow leopards do not reduce the numbers of small animals?
9. In areas where snow leopards live near livestock, do they feed on domestic animals?
❒
YES
❒
NO
❒
DON
’
T KNOW
IF YES:
Can you tel
l me more about that.
SNOW LEOPARDS AND TOURISM
10. If snow leopards attracted more tourists to this region, would this be a good thing or a bad
thing?
❒
A good thing
❒
A bad thing
❒
I don’t have an opinion about snow leopards and touri
sm
What are your thoughts about how snow leopards might influence tourism?
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
11. Before we end our meeting, I wonder if you have anything else that you might want to tell me about
snow leopards that we didn’t discuss so far?
Thank you very much for taking the time to explain your thoughts and feelings about snow leopards. Your
answers to these questions will be useful in helping us understand how people and snow leopards can
harmoniously coexist in this country.
© Biosphere Expeditions, an international not
-
for
-
profit conservation organisation registered in England, Germany, France, Australia and the USA
Officially accredited member of the Unite
d Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council & Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Officially accredited member of the International Union for
the
Conservation
of Nature
90
Appe
ndix
I
II:
Expedition diary and reports
A multimedia expedition diary is available on
https://biosphereexpeditions.wordpress.com/category/expedition
-
blogs/tien
-
shan
-
2015/
All expedition reports, including this and previous expedition reports,
are available on
www.biosphere
-
expeditions.org/reports
.
