Implication of snow leopard distribution, population dynamics and landscape genetics, and prey preference for its conservation in Nepal

This thesis deals with an endangered large mammal species - snow leopard, its distribution, population dynamics, landscape genetics and connectivity, trophic ecology and human-snow leopard conflicts in the Nepalese Himalaya (Sagarmatha National Park (SNP), Lower Mustang (LM) and Upper Manang (UM) in the Annapurna Conservation Area, during Wet and Dry seasons in 2014-2016. In the case of snow leopard study, we used data obtained from camera traps, scat's genetic analysis and monitoring of fresh pugmarks and scrapes while direct count method was used to study for its main prey, blue sheep and Himalayan tahr. In study 1, we assessed the determinants of habitat suitability of snow leopards using MaxEnt model and mapped the distribution of suitable habitat for snow leopards in Nepal. Altitude and Annual mean temperature are important common factors contributing to snow leopard habitat suitability within the area studied, which is indicated by both the percentage contribution of environmental variables and Jackknife test from MaxEnt model. Some other uncommon factors also seem to play a role, as they were important in at least one of the analyses. These were: distance from road, and precipitation of driest month but their importance has to be considered with caution. In study 2, we present our...