Wild Yaks May Reveal Climate Change on the Tibetan Plateau

Scientists have found that as temperatures warm, yaks may be feeling quite a few of the effects. It turns out that a warming planet affects female and male yaks differently, which could have implications for Tibetan herders.

In this case, the researchers looked at yaks on the Tibetan plateau. Wild yaks are actually endangered; females need snow for milk production to nurture their offspring, which means that they could be facing quite a few hurdles as the region warms.

In this case, the researchers conducted ground-based field work during winter in the Keke Xili National Nature Reserve on the Tibetan Plateau. There, they found that female yaks were 20 times more likely to be found adjacent to snow patches than male yaks.

The researchers also analyzed observations of wild yaks taken from 60 different expeditions to the Tibetan Plateau region from 1850 to 1925. These travels included British, French, Swedish, German, Russian and American explorers. The researchers found that male and female wild yaks used similar habitat prior to heavy poaching pressure that began in the 1930s. However, following this spike in hunting, females shifted to areas of steeper inclines, suggesting greater sensitivity to hunting.

"What happens in the Keke Xili National Reserve can provide valuable lessons as conservation planners prepare for similar climate change impact in other parts of the world," said Joel Berger, lead author of the new study, in a news release. "The twin findings-that the sexes of a cold-adapted species respond differently to modern climate change and long-past exploration-indicate that effective conservation planning will require knowledge of the interplay between past and future if we will assure persistence of the region's biodiversity."

The findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports.

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