Climate Change Impacts on Snow Leopard Range

Climate change impacts on snow leopard range include rising temperatures, retreating glaciers, permafrost degradation, loss of shallow surface water features such as seeps, springs, streams, and ponds, conversion of alpine meadows to arid alpine steppe grasslands, upward shift of treeline, and increasing frequency of severe weather phenomena. These impacts affect snow leopards and prey in various ways, including by reducing alpine grassland productivity and the area of available habitat as the treeline shifts upward. The MaxEnt model and IPCC A1B scenario were used to predict the area of rangewide snow leopard habitat in 2080. Modeling results predict that total area of snow leopard habitat will increase 20% by 2080, with habitat area north of 35°N latitude increasing by 45%. South of 35°N latitude, however, an 18% decrease in habitat area is predicted as treeline shifts upward with this habitat being increasingly fragmented, particularly in the southern Himalaya.