EAPSI: Genetic Variation and Structure of Snow Leopards in China

Hacker Charlotte E, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

Snow leopards are vital to their ecosystem, but face extinction in many areas due to human-wildlife conflict, habitat loss, climate change, and shrinking food sources. Snow leopards are difficult to study due to their elusive nature, low densities, and wide range. Genetic analysis of their feces (scat) can get around these obstacles. This research aims to noninvasively sample snow leopards in China by collecting scat, extracting DNA, and identifying individuals. Data will be used to estimate abundance and genetic diversity. Comparisons will be made to previous surveys to assess population stability through time. Results from this EAPSI award will aid in the conservation of snow leopards in China and ecosystem management, and will contribute to a larger, range-wide initiative. This project will build on a collaboration with Dr. Yuguang Zhang of the Chinese Academy of Forestry, who has extensive experience conducting snow leopard conservation research, and will lead to other valuable partnerships. Snow leopards are a keystone species that face extinction in many areas due to human-wildlife conflict, habitat loss, climate change, and low prey densities. Researchers must work together to obtain reliable quantitative data to prioritize conservation initiatives and policy. This research will conduct a non-invasive genetic survey to better understand the snow leopard population in China. Snow leopard scat will be collected, DNA extracted, amplified via PCR, and genotyped. Data analyses will include snow leopard abundance, genetic diversity, and density. Comparison to previous samples will provide the first measurements of population stability over time via genetics. Results will aid in making conservation plans and management decisions, and will serve as part of a larger, range-wide initiative. This project will build on a collaboration with Dr. Yuguang Zhang of the Chinese Academy of Forestry, who has extensive experience conducting snow leopard conservation research, and will yield other important partnerships. This award under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes Program supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.