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Volume 8
Journal of Ecosystem & Ecography
Biodiversity Congress 2018
July 26-27, 2018
July 26-27, 2018 Melbourne, Australia
7
th
International Conference on
Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Management
Trans-boundary conservation of Tibetan antelope by identifying its potential movement corridors in
the alpine desert of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
Xiaowen Li, Jianbin Shi, Haijing Zhuge and Jiaxun Li
Beijing Normal University, China
T
he alpine desert of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) provides the world’s largest habitats for the endangered Tibetan antelope
(
Pantholops hodgsonii
, also known as chiru). Most female Tibetan antelope populations are seasonal long-distancemigrants,
but their migration routes (corridors) remain mysterious in the alpine desert of QTP. Three contiguous nature reserves (i.e.
Altun, Kekexili, Qiangtang nature reserves) have been established to protect the endangered ungulate species and their habitats
in QTP, but they are delineated and managed according to administrative boundaries. In this study, we employed a GIS-based
model (i.e., Linkage Mapper) to identify potential movement corridors of chiru according to principle of the least-cost path.
We also examined the impacts of human disturbance on the spatial patterns and conservation status of the identified corridors
of chiru. Our results indicated that only 66% of the movement corridors for chiru were covered by the existing reserves, whilst
76% of the corridors were disturbed by human activities with a high overall disturbance index. The human disturbance index
within the existing reserves was much lower than that outside the reserves, indicating the conservation efficacy of the reserves.
More efforts and priority should be given to protect those corridors connecting the existing reserves for better movement and
gene flow of chiru populations in different reserves. Our research developed the conservation strategy for different categories
of the corridors (inside, outside, inter-reserve, opening) for chiru considering their spatial relationship with the existing nature
reserves and highlighted urgent needs to implement trans-boundary conservation strategy between the three nature reserves
across the alpine desert of QTP.
lixw@bnu.edu.cnJ Ecosyst Ecogr 2018, Volume 8
DOI: 10.4172/2157-7625-C4-042