SNOW LEOPARD NETWORK

SNOW LEOPARD SURVIVAL STRATEGY RESEARCH TOPIC TABLES

The Snow Leopard Survival Strategy incorporates 31 topics in the "Research and Information Needs" section (beginning on page 47 of the SLSS), all of which require further study in order to effectively conserve snow leopards, their habitat, and their prey species. These research tables address the need for five specific areas of snow leopard study: Status and Distribution, Ecology and Natural History, Native Ecosystems, Coexistance with Humans, and Integrated Approaches. The SLSS research topics are organized in these tables according to which umbrella issue they address, giving the significance, examples, and further research needs for each. To reference work that is already being done on these issues, see the "Case Studies" listed under each research topic in the SLSS.

Table 2-2: Snow Leopard Ecology and Natural History
Research Topic	Significance	Examples	Highest Priority Regions	Current Projects
R.2 Migration & Dispersal Routes/Patterns	Little information is available on the extent to which snow leopards migrate or disperse.	Snow leopards have crossed lowlands between mountains, but it is unclear if this is a migration. Satellite tracking collars may be used to gather info, but expense is high.	CISWC, NRANG	Case Studies R.2
R.4 Population trends & factors responsible for changes	Factors attributing to differences in snow leopard distribution, population size & trends poorly known	Reliable methods for detecting change in numbers & thus population trend are urgently needed; sign transects provide relatively crude or unreliable estimates.	HIMLY, CISWC, NRANG, RW	Case Studies R.4
R.7 Snow leopard – prey relationships	Information on prey preferences & use from different parts of snow leopards' range enables researchers to assess its dietary requirements.	What are the main prey in each area? How does prey density affect snow leopard numbers? What is impact of predation by snow leopards?	HIMLY	Case Studies R.7
R.19 Disease – type, areas of occurrence, prevalence, virulence, treatment	Disease is rarely a problem for snow leopards; however, serious skin disease has been documented.	Need literature review to document outbreaks by region & develop standardized system for recording disease.	Medium Priority-CISWC	Case Studies R.19
R.20 Home-range size & habitat use	Current knowledge of home range size & use patterns are based on a few studies only.	Patterns likely to differ widely with respect to habitat & prey abundance or availability, thus requiring data from diverse sites.	KK/HK	Case Studies R.20
R.21 Social structure & behavior	Little known about snow leopard social organization & interactions in the wild.	Radio collaring, remote video & related long-term studies are required.	NRANG	Case Studies R.21
R.22 Population genetics	Gene flow across snow leopards' highly fragmented habitat is unknown, but judged critical to its long-term persistence & potential for sub-speciation.	Different sub-species may exist. Genetic analyses is needed to resolve this issue &identify any inbreeding, deleterious effects or other genetic factors.	Medium Priority-CISWC NRANG RW	Case Studies R.22
R.23 Food habits	The dietary habits of snow leopards are well documented.	Conservation efforts should stabilize or increase food supply. Conduct dietary habit studies based on scat analyses.	Medium Priority-CISWC NRANG RW	Case Studies R.23
R.24 Relationship to other predators	Studies examining inter-specific competition for food or aggression have not been undertaken, yet snow leopards may co-exist with a number of other carnivore species.	Conduct literature survey, comparative food habits studies & develop a GIS database for other carnivores.	CISWC	Case Studies R.24