Transboundary Cooperation Improves Endangered Species Monitoring and Conservation Actions: A Case Study of the Global Population of Amur Leopards

Political borders and natural boundaries of wildlife populations seldom coincide, often to the detriment of conservation objectives. Transnational monitoring of endangered carnivores is rare, but is necessary for accurate population monitoring and coordinated conservation policies. We investigate the benefits of collaboratively monitoring the abundance and survival of the critically endangered Amur leopard, which occurs as a single transboundary population across China and Russia. Country‐specific results overestimated abundance and were generally less precise compared to integrated monitoring estimates; the global population was similar in both years: 84 (70–108, 95% confidence interval). Uncertainty in country‐specific annual survival estimates were approximately twice the integrated estimates of 0.82 (0.69–0.91, 95% confidence limits). This collaborative effort provided a better understanding of Amur leopard population dynamics, represented a first step in building trust, and lead to cooperative agreements to coordinate conservation policies

Camera-trap monitoring of Amur Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) in southwest Primorsky Krai, 2013–2016: preliminary results

Southwest Primorsky Krai retains the sole remaining population of critically endangered Amur leopards, but and also holds an isolated population of Amur tigers. This small group of tigers plays a key role as a core breeding population for potential Amur tiger recovery in neighboring Jilin and Heilongjiang Provinces of Northeast China. A large scale camera-trap monitoring program initiated by the United Administration of the State Nature Biosphere Reserve Kedrovaya Pad and Land of the Leopard National Park in 2013 provides a more precise means of tracking dynamics of animals' abundance than previous snow-track counts and is to act «early warning system» in a case of dramatic decreases in tiger numbers. Surveys were conducted over three years, beginning in August 2013 and ending in July 2016. During each survey year, we planned to select a survey period of no more than 92 days when no less than 80% of camera-trap stations were active. However, as the camera-trap stations were not simultaneously deployed and checked during the last year (2015–2016), using the 80% cut point substantially was not feasible, so we lowered the limit to 55%. To estimate detection rates for adults, we used only those animals that were present in a given year both before and after the survey period, with the assumption that if a tiger were present both before and after, most likely it was present during the survey period as well. From the 320 photographic captures obtained over three years we identified 39 adult Amur tigers and 22 cubs. Among them only seven adult individuals (18%) were captured in all three years, while sixteen adult individuals (41%) were captured only in one of the three years; the rest (41%) were captured in two of the three years. Females demonstrate greater fidelity, and a greater likelihood or being present in all three years. Tigers were more frequently captured during the cold season from October to March with the peak numbers recorded in December. However, there were only ten instances in which adult/sub-adult tigers were photographed both before and after the survey period in all years combined. Of those, in only six instances (60%) tigers also photographed during the survey period, suggesting a relatively low detection probability. However detection of cubs was even lower: twenty-two cubs were photographed during the three years of the study but only three (14%) were photographed during the three survey periods. These results suggest that capture rates of cubs are much lower than those of adults/subadults reaffirming recommendations to not include cubs in formal population abundance estimates

CONSUMPTION OF MINE WATER BY WILD UNGULATES IN THE SOURCES OF THE USSURI RIVER, ON THE TERRITORY OF THE NATIONAL PARK «CALL OF THE TIGER»

Link for citation: Panichev A.M., Baranovskaya N.V., Aramilev V.V., Chekryzhov I.Yu., Vakh E.A., Vetoshkina  A.V., Lutsenko T.N., Strepetov D.A.  Consumption of mine water by wild ungulates in the sources of the Ussuri river, on the territory of the national park «Call of the tiger». Bulletin of the Tomsk Polytechnic University. Geo Аssets Engineering, 2023, vol. 334, no. 7, рр. 111-121. In Rus. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to clarify the reason for the use of mineralized water by wild animals, which is typical for many areas of the world. The new knowledge is closely related to the geophagy problem, the solution of which opens a wide prospect of fundamental research in the fields of landscape biogeochemistry, ecology and medicine. Purpose: to study chemical composition of the mineralized mine water in the lake located on the territory of the out-of-operation tin-polymetallic ores concentrator dump in the upper Ussuri river which is being consumed actively by wild ungulates; to reveal number of animal visitors to the lake during an annual cycle; to reveal the reason of mine water consumption. Objects: ungulates visiting the lake with mine water; lake water and bottom sediments. Methods: estimation of visitation of the mine lake by animals by means of photographic traps; chemical composition determination: inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) (Agilent 7700x spectrometer, Agilent Techn., USA); atomic emission spectrometry (spectrometer iCAP 7600 Duo); ion chromatography (LC-20 ion-liquid chromatograph, Shimadzu, Japan). Results. It was revealed that animals come to the lake uniformly throughout the year, except for the winter period, when the water is covered by a thick layer of ice. In high concentrations trace elements were found, including both elements with high toxicity (Cd and Pb) exceeding MAC for drinking water from 20 to 80 times and essential elements such as Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Co, Cr, Ni, Se, Li, which concentration either does not exceed MPC or exceeds it insignificantly. The concentration of REE, especially of the light subgroup, is also very high. The reason for mine water consumption by animals, most likely, is the high concentration of rare-earth elements of the light subgroup in it