Summer habitat use of plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae) in response to winter livestock grazing in the alpine steppe Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
Plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae), burrowing lagomorphs endemic to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), are considered pests by Chinese authorities because of their association with grasslands that are characterized as degraded. Officials typically blame pikas for causing the degraded conditions, whe...
Published in: | Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2018
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2018.1447190 https://doaj.org/article/c4f25c98f74146feae94de775e30a9ac |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:c4f25c98f74146feae94de775e30a9ac 2023-05-15T14:14:19+02:00 Summer habitat use of plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae) in response to winter livestock grazing in the alpine steppe Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Badingquiying Andrew T. Smith Richard B. Harris 2018-01-01 https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2018.1447190 https://doaj.org/article/c4f25c98f74146feae94de775e30a9ac en eng Taylor & Francis Group 1523-0430 1938-4246 doi:10.1080/15230430.2018.1447190 https://doaj.org/article/c4f25c98f74146feae94de775e30a9ac undefined Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, Vol 50, Iss 1 (2018) biodiversity conservation livestock grazing ochotona curzoniae plateau pika rangeland degradation qinghai-tibetan plateau envir geo Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2018 fttriple https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2018.1447190 2023-01-22T17:26:34Z Plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae), burrowing lagomorphs endemic to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), are considered pests by Chinese authorities because of their association with grasslands that are characterized as degraded. Officials typically blame pikas for causing the degraded conditions, whereas studies increasingly suggest that sparse vegetation encourages population growth and high densities of pikas. Correlational investigations that document pika density while simultaneously describing grassland conditions can quantify this association, but are uninformative regarding causation. We used livestock exclosures and pika reductions in partially controlled experiments to examine how pika habitat use responds to changes in vegetation structure caused by wintertime livestock grazing. Mean counts of pikas were higher on grazed than ungrazed plots. Linear models accounting for experimental pika reduction as well as seasonal phenology indicated that grazing significantly increased pika use compared with ungrazed plots. These results show that moderate livestock density is likely consistent with both biodiversity conservation and economic activity, and that high pika populations alone are not responsible for observed degradation of the QTP alpine grasslands. Moderate levels of livestock grazing and pika presence are consistent with maintaining the integrity of the alpine steppe ecosystem of the QTP. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarctic and Alpine Research Arctic Unknown Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 50 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Unknown |
op_collection_id |
fttriple |
language |
English |
topic |
biodiversity conservation livestock grazing ochotona curzoniae plateau pika rangeland degradation qinghai-tibetan plateau envir geo |
spellingShingle |
biodiversity conservation livestock grazing ochotona curzoniae plateau pika rangeland degradation qinghai-tibetan plateau envir geo Badingquiying Andrew T. Smith Richard B. Harris Summer habitat use of plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae) in response to winter livestock grazing in the alpine steppe Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau |
topic_facet |
biodiversity conservation livestock grazing ochotona curzoniae plateau pika rangeland degradation qinghai-tibetan plateau envir geo |
description |
Plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae), burrowing lagomorphs endemic to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), are considered pests by Chinese authorities because of their association with grasslands that are characterized as degraded. Officials typically blame pikas for causing the degraded conditions, whereas studies increasingly suggest that sparse vegetation encourages population growth and high densities of pikas. Correlational investigations that document pika density while simultaneously describing grassland conditions can quantify this association, but are uninformative regarding causation. We used livestock exclosures and pika reductions in partially controlled experiments to examine how pika habitat use responds to changes in vegetation structure caused by wintertime livestock grazing. Mean counts of pikas were higher on grazed than ungrazed plots. Linear models accounting for experimental pika reduction as well as seasonal phenology indicated that grazing significantly increased pika use compared with ungrazed plots. These results show that moderate livestock density is likely consistent with both biodiversity conservation and economic activity, and that high pika populations alone are not responsible for observed degradation of the QTP alpine grasslands. Moderate levels of livestock grazing and pika presence are consistent with maintaining the integrity of the alpine steppe ecosystem of the QTP. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Badingquiying Andrew T. Smith Richard B. Harris |
author_facet |
Badingquiying Andrew T. Smith Richard B. Harris |
author_sort |
Badingquiying |
title |
Summer habitat use of plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae) in response to winter livestock grazing in the alpine steppe Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau |
title_short |
Summer habitat use of plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae) in response to winter livestock grazing in the alpine steppe Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau |
title_full |
Summer habitat use of plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae) in response to winter livestock grazing in the alpine steppe Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau |
title_fullStr |
Summer habitat use of plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae) in response to winter livestock grazing in the alpine steppe Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau |
title_full_unstemmed |
Summer habitat use of plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae) in response to winter livestock grazing in the alpine steppe Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau |
title_sort |
summer habitat use of plateau pikas (ochotona curzoniae) in response to winter livestock grazing in the alpine steppe qinghai-tibetan plateau |
publisher |
Taylor & Francis Group |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2018.1447190 https://doaj.org/article/c4f25c98f74146feae94de775e30a9ac |
genre |
Antarctic and Alpine Research Arctic |
genre_facet |
Antarctic and Alpine Research Arctic |
op_source |
Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, Vol 50, Iss 1 (2018) |
op_relation |
1523-0430 1938-4246 doi:10.1080/15230430.2018.1447190 https://doaj.org/article/c4f25c98f74146feae94de775e30a9ac |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2018.1447190 |
container_title |
Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research |
container_volume |
50 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766286849010040832 |