We aim to host a brainstorming session with researchers in Mongolia to learn more about their perspectives on land conservation and management and discuss how collaboration could be most helpful to address emerging challenges.

Habitat fragmentation threatens wildlife populations by reducing the ability of animals to move across the landscape. Wildlife may move long distances across the landscape to find a place to settle, find mates, or escape inhospitable conditions created by human-driven development or climate change. We hope to work toward improving connectivity of habitat for the endangered tiger and leopards in Nepal to reduce the risk of extinction for these charismatic species and those they rely on to survive.

We collaborate with ProCAT as partners in Colombia with our Andean Bear community conservation work that includes shared efforts on capture, telemetry and camera traps.  Sharing field resources, person power, and data we work together to make a difference in the conservation of this rare species in the high Andes and have coauthored multiple publications and presentations.

We are expanding our partnership with the Institute of Biology, the Mongolian Academy of Sciences (MAS-IB) to initiate a series of studies addressing emerging conservation concerns in Mongolia. For this purpose, we planned several projects including 1) the development of a genetic monitoring tool for brown bears in Mongolia, especially for the critically endangered Gobi bears and 2) ecological studies on species of conservation concern, including grey wolves and marmots in Mongolia.

Team members: Odko Tumendemberel; Maria Vitoria Mazzamuto; Jeff Dolphin

The Ganges River dolphin, Platanista gangetica gangetic, is the only cetacean species recorded in Nepal. Large structures like dams, flood-control structures, and embankments for irrigation projects, agriculture and hydroelectric power have impacts on the river dolphins that have led to the loss of longitudinal and lateral connectivity of habitats. As a consequence, clear effects on distribution, gene flow, movement patterns, and behavior have been noticed.

Extreme natural disturbance events, human population growth, and climate change are causing rapid shifts in vegetation composition and structure with broad implications for wildlife conservation. In both southeastern forested wetlands and montane spruce-fir forests, these threats are particularly urgent.

As one of the most abundant infrastructure types, roads can be a direct cause for habitat fragmentation, which is a major threat to biodiversity. Many studies in the field of road ecology show that traffic noise can be far-reaching, with negative consequences on species presence. The Mt. Graham red squirrel is an endangered subspecies of red squirrel isolated to the highest elevations of a single mountain. Mt. Graham is an important biological, cultural, astronomical, and recreational site in SE Arizona, resulting in a large amount of road traffic throughout much of the year.