Seasonal Migration and Home Ranges of Tibetan Antelopes (Pantholops hodgsonii) Based on Satellite Tracking

Background: Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii) , an endemic species of the Tibetan Plateau listed on IUCN Red List, migrates over the long distances for calving. It has an unequal feature that only females do seasonal migration. However, the problems of seasonal migration and inhabitation of Tibetan antelope have not yet been clarified. Methodology: To identify the ecological drivers of the Tibetan antelope migration in terms of geographical characteristics, topographical variables of their home ranges and the factors affecting the habitat selection within the seasons, there are utilized the Argos transmitter satellite tracking of the Tibetan antelope. The analysis was made by using the LoCoH Hull method for the home range estimation made for this species for the first time. Results: Tibetan antelope has spent more time on the way back from calving, than the way forward. The annual habitation area varies from 2024-2908 km^2 with average of 2409 km^2 and the wintering place locates in a valley with the average HR of 441 km^2. Conclusion: The results of monitoring and LoCoH Hull Home Range (HR) analysis showed that the calving ground location continues to be stable, while wintering places changes easily, one-third of samples changed its wintering pastures and could be adjacent to different groups. This is an important results that leads to the protection and management of endangered species on the Red List like Tibetan antelope

Studies on Long-term Changes in Herders Household and Land Use in Inner Mongolia, China

The arable land, artificial pastures, and enclosed grassland are widespread in Inner Mongolia, China from 1978. In this study, we observed and evaluated long-term changes in land use associated with Land reform movement during the period of 1947 to 2012 in Inner Mongolia. We interviewed 158 families of one village in 2012. Results indicate that, based on the history of arable land establishment, it is necessary to achieve improvement of arable land productivity, to improve people livelihoods. The development of irrigation facilities is one possible approach. Another approach is to return abandoned non-irrigated land to pasture land. This will protect hilly areas used for grazing utilization and reduce cultivation area which is distributed to each family. Support from Germany has enhanced agricultural productivity and ecological environment recovery, and also to the Grain for Green project and forestation. This also includes prohibition of grazing and aid in development of irrigation facilities. It is difficult to maintain herder’s life based on low productivity agriculture in arid areas without grazing. As policies change, rural development should consider natural environmental conditions of grazing areas, traditional culture, customs, and religious aspects

Grazing Behavior of Livestock in Settled and Nomadic Herders Households in Mongolian Plateau

In this study, we investigated the effects of settled grazing in Inner Mongolia and traditional nomadic grazing in Mongolia on grazing behavior of livestock using GPS satellite tracking. In summer of 2011 and 2012, we fitted GPS loggers to sheep and goats to quantify the behavior of livestock in Inner Mongolia and in Mongolia. We discovered that the mean grazing velocity (km/h) of sheep in Inner Mongolia was 0.65 ± 0.07 (km/h) and in Mongolia was 0.54 ± 0.30 (km/h). The result indicated a higher grazing velocity and longer moving distance of sheep in Inner Mongolia than that in Mongolia. However, the grazing area of the sheep in Inner Mongolia was smaller than that in Mongolia. The grazing area in Inner Mongolia was 214.88 ± 149.73 (ha/day) and 246.03 ± 197.36 (ha/day) in Mongolia. This may be a result of limited area due to the presence of fences in Inner Mongolia. We also calculated vegetation volume (height (cm) × coverage (%)) of each plant species. The vegetation survey showed that the mean volume of palatable species in Inner Mongolia was 87.5 ± 174.9 and 106.1 ± 202.6 in Mongolia. Therefore livestock have to spend more time grazing, increasing their step rate and moving longer distances. These results indicate that fencing associated with the settlement system of Inner Mongolia has created a new hot spot of land degradation and a new source of Asian dust storm outbreaks

Comparative Characteristics of the Home Ranges of Domestic and Wild Animals in Arid and Semi-Arid Afro-Eurasian Watering Places as Hot Spots for Pasture Degradation

In this study, we investigated home range of wildlife and livestock that graze on pastures in Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and Tibet) and Sudan. In order to clarify the animal home range, the daily movement of domestic and wild animals was tracked using GPS (Global Positioning System) collars and ARGOS satellite transmitters. The home range of sheep, goats and horses was investigated in Mongolia and China; those of camels, donkeys and goats in Sudan; migration of Tibetan antelope (Chiru, Pantholops hodgsoni) in Tibet; and home range of the Brandt vole (Microtus brandti) in Mongolia. The home ranges of sheep and goats in nomadic Mongolian family are simple, elongated in shape and possess almost no track intersections. The daily routes possess the same pattern, but pass in different places and do not overlay the previous. Those of sheep and goats in settled nomad families in Inner Mongolia differ in shape, have multiple overlays and tend to cross previous paths. Grazing inside fenced pasture causes this pattern; grazing velocity and total distances are higher than that of Mongolian livestock. In Mongolia, surroundings of livestock watering sites are heavily degenerated in a range of 1 km radius. Pasture degradation attracts rodent species, Microtus brandti, to those sites. Analysis of the habitat selection by this rodent on Maximum Entropy Model showed that habitat most preferred by voles are degraded grasslands along roads, ger (tent-type movable house) and watering sites with percent contribution varying from 5.5 to 47.9, and permutation importance of 25.1; 48.7 and 20.9, respectively. We suggest that in conditions of arid and sub-arid land, the livestock and wild animal’s concentration around water sources may cause progressing degradation of pasture and desertification