Abstract

Ungulates are essential for maintaining the health of grassland ecosystems on the Tibetan plateau. Increased livestock grazing has caused competition for food resources, threatening ungulates’ survival. The survival risk of food resources for ungulates can be quantified by the grazing pressure index, which requires accurate grassland carrying capacity. Previous research on the grazing pressure index has rarely taken into account the influence of wild ungulates, mainly due to the lack of precise spatial data on their quantity. In this study, we conducted field investigations to construct high-resolution spatial distributions for the four endemic ungulates on the Tibetan plateau. By factoring in the grazing consumption of these ungulates, we recalculated the grassland carrying capacity to obtain the grazing pressure index, which allowed us to assess the survival risks for each species. The results show: (1) Quantity estimates for Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii), Tibetan wild donkey (Equus kiang), Tibetan gazelle (Procapra picticaudata), and wild yak (Bos mutus) of the Tibetan plateau are 24.57 × 104, 17.93 × 104, 7.16 × 104, and 1.88 × 104, respectively; they mainly distributed in the northern and western regions of the Tibetan plateau. (2) The grassland carrying capacity of the Tibetan plateau is 69.98 million sheep units, with ungulate grazing accounting for 5% of forage utilization. Alpine meadow and alpine steppe exhibit the highest grassland carrying capacity. (3) The grazing pressure index on the Tibetan plateau grasslands is 2.23, indicating a heightened grazing pressure in the southern and eastern regions. (4) The habitat survival risk analysis indicates that the high survival risk (the grazing pressure index exceeds 1.2) areas for the four ungulate species account for the following proportions of their total habitat areas: Tibetan wild donkeys (49.76%), Tibetan gazelles (47.00%), Tibetan antelopes (40.76%), and wild yaks (34.83%). These high-risk areas are primarily located within alpine meadow and temperate desert steppe. This study provides a quantitative assessment of survival risks for these four ungulate species on the Tibetan plateau grasslands and serves as a valuable reference for ungulate conservation and grassland ecosystem management.