The habitat of the snow leopards is currently undergoing drastic environmental change and is predicted to continue undergoing these changes due to the warming climate. The rising temperatures, disappearing snow and shifting of tree lines will have definitive effects on the snow leopard populations. Just how, exactly, will these magnificent animals be effected? And how will they cope with the change?
A study by Forrest et al. (2012) indicates that under the IPCC’s emissions scenarios, the snow leopard habitat will decrease by at least 10% under the low emissions scenario (B1) and by 30% under the high emissions scenario (A2). These decreases will largely be caused by the encroaching forests into the higher elevations and therefore into the snow leopard habitat. Not only will their habitat decrease but this will also cause other species like the common leopard (Panthera pardus), wild dogs (Cuon alpinus) and tigers (Panthera tigris) to move upwards with the tree line and possibly overlap with the snow leopards [3]. This invasion of other species will increase the amount of interspecies competition for food resources, likely resulting in a decrease in snow leopard numbers due to the other species being better adapted to the forest environments [3].
A study by Forrest et al. (2012) indicates that under the IPCC’s emissions scenarios, the snow leopard habitat will decrease by at least 10% under the low emissions scenario (B1) and by 30% under the high emissions scenario (A2). These decreases will largely be caused by the encroaching forests into the higher elevations and therefore into the snow leopard habitat. Not only will their habitat decrease but this will also cause other species like the common leopard (Panthera pardus), wild dogs (Cuon alpinus) and tigers (Panthera tigris) to move upwards with the tree line and possibly overlap with the snow leopards [3]. This invasion of other species will increase the amount of interspecies competition for food resources, likely resulting in a decrease in snow leopard numbers due to the other species being better adapted to the forest environments [3].
The reduced snow leopard habitats will then be targeted by herders for livestock grazing which may cause populations of native ungulates that the snow leopards prey upon to become locally depleted [3]. This will cause the snow leopards to increase their targeting of livestock as prey and increase the human-snow leopard interactions and cause an increase in killings by the herders. Thus climate change will indirectly cause further decrease in the snow leopard populations [1,3]. These changes will cause the snow leopards to do one of two things; move longitudinally following movements in their climate, or stay and either adapt physiologically or decrease in numbers and become isolated populations that may eventually become extinct. The snow leopard habitat model proposed by Forrest et al. (2012) suggests that the snow leopards have a limited capacity to adapt physiologically and ecologically to climate change. In a fight to survive, the snow leopard, like most other existing species, will likely alter their geographic distribution and as they move with their habitat, will essentially “track” climate change [10]. |