Significant Group Of Species In The Ecosystem: Snow Leopard

Snow Leopard
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Introduction
Terrestrial carnivores are a significant group of species in the ecosystem. Most of the carnivores have become endangered over time due to various reasons. The presence of such animals like the snow leopard has important effects on the environment and ecosystem at large. Other than their impact on the ecosystem, carnivores play a significant role in social and economic benefits; they drive tourism as people go out for wildlife drives. However, many of these species have become endangered and are on the verge of extinction. Different factors and occurrences have led to the persecution of the carnivores. The factors include, but are not limited to prey depletion, climate change, and human activity. Herein, the paper will discuss the snow leopard, a rare beautiful gray leopard, which lives in the Central Asia Mountains.
Leopards have features and characteristics that help them adapt to their environment. They have thick hair that works as insulations, and their feet are wide and covered with fur which eases their movement in the snow. Their powerful limbs help them in leaping and jumping as far as 50 feet; they have long tails that they use to cover sensitive body areas from the harsh mountain climate as well as use them for balancing.
The number of snow leopards has declined over time, hence research into the different reasons and factors leading to their endangerment is necessary. The information gathered on their decline is useful to conservationists, who aim at maintaining and rescuing the few remaining leopards. With human activity being one of the major reasons they have reduced, the information gathered is also vital in creating awareness to communities living in the mountains for them to understand the need for the cats. The snow leopard has been considered as an endangered species and is listed in The Red Book of Threatened Species of the International Union of Conservation of Nature. The research aims to delve deeper into why snow leopards are becoming extinct due to climate change, human activities and black trade.
Climate Change
Snow leopards live across the mountain ranges of Central Asia, where they prefer complex structural habitat with enough cover for hunting. Climate change has been one of the main factors affecting the persistence and existence of species that require space to thrive. The change in climate has led to habitat fragmentation, loss, and shifts that largely affect snow leopards. The impacts include uphill alteration of the tree line, declining glaciers, loss of low surface water topographies such as ponds and streams and increasing temperatures among others. The impacts affect the snow leopards and their prey in various ways. They reduce the habitat area which is due to the shift in the tree line upward and also the decline in the alpine grassland productivity. The shifts also cause fragmentation in the habitat, which reduces its suitability for the cats and its prey. The subsurface layer of the soil also faces degradation due to climate change. The degradation affects the prey preferences for the snow leopard because the pasture growth becomes affected. With a decline in the available p...