Abundance estimation of large carnivores is essential for their effective conservation planning, yet estimating population size is challenging due to their elusive and wide-ranging nature. China is estimated to encompass 60% of the snow leopard Panthera uncia habitat, making it a crucial pillar for global snow leopard conservation. However, no large-scale population assessment has been conducted despite scattered survey effort accumulating rapidly in recent years. This study combined and standardized existing camera trap survey data from 12 sites collected by four organizations during 2015 ~ 2021 to estimate snow leopard population in an area of 360,000 km² on the Tibetan Plateau, China. The representativeness of existing survey was evaluated based on two habitat stratification approaches to achieve less biased population assessment. Spatially explicit capture-recapture (SECR) models were applied for snow leopard density estimation and the top-ranked model showed a significant positive correlation between conservation priority strata and density. An average snow leopard density of 0.90 /100 km² (95% CI: 0.68 ~ 1.21 /100 km²) and a population size of 1,002 (95% CI: 755 ~ 1,341) individuals was estimated for the defined snow leopard habitat. Two more conservative estimates of 971 (95% CI: 732 ~ 1,287) and 978 (95% CI: 737 ~ 1,267) individuals were generated within two defined survey regions, in which our data had higher representativity. This study presents a practical approach to synthesize existing population survey data for large-scale population assessments of individually identifiable species. The estimated number represents 11 ~ 21% of the global snow leopard population, indicating high conservation value of this region.

估算大型食肉动物的种群数量对其有效保护规划至关重要，但由于它们行为隐秘且活动范围广，种群规模的估算极具挑战性。中国约涵盖全球60%的雪豹（Panthera uncia）栖息地，是全球雪豹保护的重要支柱。然而，尽管近年来零星调查数据迅速积累，却尚未开展大规模的种群评估。本研究结合并标准化了四个机构在2015至2021年期间收集的12个地点的红外相机监测数据，以估算青藏高原上36万平方公里范围内的雪豹种群数量。基于两种栖息地分层方法评估了现有调查的代表性，以减少种群评估的偏差。研究应用空间显性捕获-重捕（SECR）模型估算雪豹密度，最佳模型显示保护优先分区与密度之间存在显著正相关关系。研究估算的雪豹平均密度为每100平方公里0.90只（95%置信区间：0.681.21），种群总数为1,002只（95%置信区间：7551,341）。在两个调查代表性更高的区域内，研究还得出了两个更保守的估算值，分别为971只（95%置信区间：7321,287）和978只（95%置信区间：7371,267）。本研究提出了一种综合现有种群调查数据以进行大规模评估的实用方法，这种方法适用于个体可识别物种的种群研究。估算结果显示，该地区的雪豹数量占全球雪豹种群的11%至21%，凸显了其高度的保护价值。

阅读全文：First large-scale assessment of snow leopard population in China using existing data from multiple organizations | Biodiversity and Conservation

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