Expanding or shrinking? range shifts in wild ungulates under climate change in Pamir-Karakoram mountains, Pakistan

Climate change is expected to impact a large number of organisms in many ecosystems, including several threatened mammals. A better understanding of climate impacts on species can make conservation efforts more effective. The Himalayan ibex (Capra ibex sibirica) and blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur) are economically important wild ungulates in northern Pakistan because they are sought-after hunting trophies. However, both species are threatened due to several human-induced factors, and these factors are expected to aggravate under changing climate in the High Himalayas. In this study, we investigated populations of ibex and blue sheep in the Pamir-Karakoram mountains in order to (i) update and validate their geographical distributions through empirical data; (ii) understand range shifts under climate change scenarios; and (iii) predict future habitats to aid long-term conservation planning. Presence records of target species were collected through camera trapping and sightings in the field. We constructed Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model on presence record and six key climatic variables to predict the current and future distributions of ibex and blue sheep. Two representative concentration pathways (4.5 and 8.5) and two-time projections (2050 and 2070) were used for future range predictions. Our results indicated that ca. 37% and 9% of the total study area (Gilgit-Baltistan) was suitable under current climatic conditions for Himalayan ibex and blue sheep, respectively. Annual mean precipitation was a key determinant of suitable habitat for both ungulate species. Under changing climate scenarios, both species will lose a significant part of their habitats, particularly in the Himalayan and Hindu Kush ranges. The Pamir-Karakoram ranges will serve as climate refugia for both species. This area shall remain focus of future conservation efforts to protect Pakistan’s mountain ungulates.

A Glimpse of Blue Sheep (Pseudois nayaur) Hunting in Api Nampa Conservation Area (ANCA) Nepal

Higher altitudes of Api Nampa Conservation Area have become a hunting destination for the local people bringing a threat to blue sheep and other wildlife. Blue sheep has been a national concern in Nepal due to being the main prey species of snow leopard and trophy hunting. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of hunters in Api Nampa Conservation Area (ANCA), Darchula, Nepal. This study was carried out around Api Nampa Conservation Area in 2016. Mixed methods of questionnaires were developed to collect data, and quantitative analysis was done by applying SPSS 16. A hundred percent of hunters like to hunt in this protected area. The hunted animals were goral, blue sheep, barking deer, boar and tahr. Site-specific characteristics like vegetation density, terrain and rugged land topography often vary markedly across surveys. Due to the regular and yearly use of grazing by the livestock in the area, it becomes imperative to study their feeding habits and document their food plants. Consequently, poaching and livestock grazing are important challenges for the conservation of blue sheep. Hunting, deforestation, forest fires, grazing and shifting agriculture are identified as major threats to the wildlife of Api Nampa Conservation Area. Envisioning, critical thinking, building partnership in decision-making, awareness, and stringent action against hunting activities must be adopted early. Api Nampa Conservation Area has received little research attention from grassland ecologists and specialists in pastoral management.

The Discontinuous Elevational Distribution of an Ungulate at the Regional Scale: Implications for Speciation and Conservation

The elevational range where montane species live is a key factor of spatial niche partitioning, because the limits of such ranges are influenced by interspecies interaction, abiotic stress, and dispersal barriers. At the regional scale, unimodal distributions of single species along the elevation gradient have often been reported, while discontinuous patterns, such as bimodal distributions, and potential ecological implications have been rarely discussed. Here, we used extensive camera trap records to reveal the elevation distribution of Himalaya blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur) and its co-existence with other ground animal communities along a slope of Baima Snow Mountain, southwest China. The results show that Himalaya blue sheep exhibited a distinctive bimodal distribution along the elevation gradient contrasting the unimodal distributions found for the other ungulates in Baima snow mountain. A first distributional peak was represented by a population habituating in scree habitat around 4100 m, and a second peak was found in the dry-hot valley around 2600 m. The two distinct populations co-existed with disparate animal communities and these assemblages were similar both in the dry and rainy seasons. The extremely low abundance of blue sheep observed in the densely forested belt at mid-elevation indicates that vegetation rather than temperature is responsible for such segregation. The low-elevation population relied highly on Opuntia ficus-indica, an invasive cactus species that colonized the region six hundred years ago, as food resource. Being the only animal that developed a strategy to feed on this spiky plant, we suggest invasive species may have formed new foraging niche to support blue sheep population in lower elevation hot-dry river valleys, resulting in the geographic separation from the original population and a potential morphological differentiation, as recorded. These findings emphasize the important conservation values of role of ecological functions to identify different taxa, and conservation values of apparent similar species of different ecological functions.

Using distance sampling with camera traps to estimate the density of group-living and solitary mountain ungulates

Throughout the Himalaya, mountain ungulates are threatened by hunting for meat and body parts, habitat loss, and competition with livestock. Accurate population estimates are important for conservation management but most of the available methods to estimate ungulate densities are difficult to implement in mountainous terrain. Here, we tested the efficacy of the recent extension of the point transect method, using camera traps for estimating density of two mountain ungulates: the group-living Himalayan blue sheep or bharal Pseudois nayaur and the solitary Himalayan musk deer Moschus leucogaster. We deployed camera traps in 2017–2018 for the bharal (summer: 21 locations; winter: 25) in the trans-Himalayan region (3,000–5,000 m) and in 2018–2019 for the musk deer (summer: 30 locations; winter: 28) in subalpine habitats (2,500–3,500 m) in the Upper Bhagirathi basin, Uttarakhand, India. Using distance sampling with camera traps, we estimated the bharal population to be 0.51 ± SE 0.1 individuals/km2 (CV = 0.31) in summer and 0.64 ± SE 0.2 individuals/km2 (CV = 0.37) in winter. For musk deer, the estimated density was 0.4 ± SE 0.1 individuals/km2 (CV = 0.34) in summer and 0.1 ± SE 0.05 individuals/km2 (CV = 0.48) in winter. The high variability in these estimates is probably a result of the topography of the landscape and the biology of the species. We discuss the potential application of distance sampling with camera traps to estimate the density of mountain ungulates in remote and rugged terrain, and the limitations of this method.

Hoof Pressure Distribution Pattern of Blue Sheep During Walking on Different Slopes: A Subject-Specific Analysis

The purpose of this study was to quantitatively assess the vertical force distribution (VFD) of subject-specific healthy blue sheep while walking on different slopes using a pressure-sensing walkway. The blue sheep was trained to walk over the pressure-sensing walkway by choosing a comfortable walking speed, and the slope angle increased from 0° to 25°. The sheep's hooves were divided into four quadrants, namely, the cranio-lateral, cranio-medial, caudo-lateral, and caudo-medial quadrants, to investigate the VFD of the peak vertical force (PVF), vertical impulse (VI) and occurrence time of the PVF during the stance phase (TPVF). This study demonstrates that the main stressed quadrant of the front hoof changes from the caudo-medial quadrant to the cranio-medial quadrant with increasing slope. The main stressed quadrant of the rear hoof is the cranio-medial quadrant and does not change with the increasing slope. For all the slopes, the vertical force shifted from the lateral quadrant to the medial quadrant and from the caudal quadrant to the cranial quadrant. All the results obtained in the study suggest the feasibility of detecting gait changes in blue sheep, which has potential for the diagnosis of lower limb musculoskeletal diseases in quadrupeds.

THE AMOUNT OF PIGMENTATION DEPENDING ON THE GENETICS OF THE BLACK KARAKUL

The article studies the effect of the pigmentation saturation of black karakul sheep on their heredity. The saturation of pigmentation in wool was studied in 20 rams of different origins. Among black rams obtained from one pair, the share of highly pigmented rams was 75.0%, the share of individuals with normal pigmentation was 25.0%. Among the rams obtained from brown and blue sheep, there were no individuals with very high pigmentation, and the proportion of individuals with normal pigmentation saturation was 50.0%. The study showed that the level of pigmentation in the coat of offspring depends on their origin. A high individual weight of 71.5 kg was confirmed in rams obtained from one pair. The smallest live weights of 64.8 kg and 68.4 kg were observed in individuals from colored rams. The inheritance of color and saturation of pigmentation was established in the offspring of black rams of different genotypes. Color inheritance has been studied in the offspring of black rams of different genotypes. When mating homozygous black rams with black queens, 100% of black lambs were obtained. When black rams obtained from brown sheep were mated with brown queens, 95.35% black and 4.65% brown offspring were obtained in the offspring. When mating black rams obtained from blue sheep with blue queens, 50.59% and 49.41% of offspring were obtained. In general, among lambs they are more often found with normal pigmentation, their share was 48.8-53.3%, and the share of lambs with low pigmentation saturation was 8.9-21.9%. The proportion of lambs with high pigmentation saturation -37.8% was observed in black animals from black rams. The lowest proportion of highly pigmented lambs, -30.2%, was obtained from black queens from blue sheep. At the same time, the lowest proportion of poorly saturated lambs - 8.9%, was obtained in black queens from black sheep, and the highest proportion of such lambs - 21.9%, in black queens from brown sheep.

Comparison of the fecal microbiota composition between the blue Sheep (Pseudois nayaur) fed with Lolium perenne and Sorghum sudanense

Lolium perenne L. and Sorghum sudanense (Piper) Stapf. are two common forages fed to the captive blue sheep. However, the effect of these two forages on the gastrointestinal microbiota is largely unknown. We analyzed the microbiota diversity in feces of the captive blue sheep fed with L. perenne (F1) and S. sudanense (F2) by 16S rRNA sequencing. A total number of 20 major phyla and 29 genera fecal bacterial communities were detected in the two groups. The F1 and F2 groups shared common microbiota at the phylum level, which mainly consisted of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. Ruminococcaceae_UCG-005, Eubacterium_coprostanoligenes_group, Ruminococcaceae_UCG-013 and Ruminococcaceae_UCG-010 were top four dominant taxa at the genus level. The percentage of Ruminococcaceae_UCG-010 in F2 was significantly higher than that in F1 (~2.75 fold). The diversity and abundance of the microbial community in F2 were higher than that in F1. Although both of the L. perenne and S. sudanense effect the blue sheep gastrointestinal microbiota metabolism, the S. sudanense improves more aspects in metabolism and biogenesis. In summary, our results demonstrated that the L. perenne and S. sudanense effect the blue sheep gastrointestinal microbiota in different ways. But S. sudanense efficiently improved the blue sheep gastrointestinal microbiota.