Chapter 14
Habitat Fragmentation by Railways
as a Barrier to Great Migrations
of Ungulates in Mongolia
Takehiko Y. Ito, Badamjav Lhagvasuren, Atsushi Tsunekawa
and Masato Shinoda
Abstract Mongolia’s Gobi-Steppe Ecosystem is the largest grassland in the world
and the habitat of long-distance movement ungulates, such as the Mongolian
gazelle (Procapra gutturosa) and the Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus). The
international railway between Russia and China bisects this habitat, and there has
been concern that it may impede the movements of wild ungulates. We tracked
ungulate movements on both sides of the Ulaanbaatar–Beijing Railway, and found
that most of the tracked animals never crossed the railway. The construction of
additional railways to permit mining projects in the area is therefore a further threat
to maintaining the great migrations of ungulates across Mongolia.
Keywords Asiatic wild ass Á Dryland Á Grassland Á Desert Á Long-distance
movement Á Mongolian gazelle Á NDVI Á Remote sensing Á Satellite tracking Á
Terrestrial mammal
Introduction
Mongolia occupies an area of 1,564,100 km
2 in central Asia. Mainly due to its low
human population density (2.0 ind./km
2 in 2015 for all of Mongolia; National
Statistical Office of Mongolia 2016), it harbors the largest grassland in the world.
Several species of ungulates inhabit this grassland, including the Mongolian gazelle
(Procapra gutturosa), the goitered gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa), and the Asiatic
wild ass (Equus hemionus), with some of them, such as the Mongolian gazelle,
forming large herds (Fig. 14.1).
T.Y. Ito (&) Á A. Tsunekawa
Arid Land Research Center, Tottori University, Tottori, Japan
e-mail: ito@alrc.tottori-u.ac.jp
B. Lhagvasuren
Institute of General and Experimental Biology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences,
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
M. Shinoda
Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
© The Author(s) 2017
L. Borda-de-Água et al. (eds.), Railway Ecology,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57496-7_14
229
Habitat Fragmentation by Railways
as a Barrier to Great Migrations
of Ungulates in Mongolia
Takehiko Y. Ito, Badamjav Lhagvasuren, Atsushi Tsunekawa
and Masato Shinoda
Abstract Mongolia’s Gobi-Steppe Ecosystem is the largest grassland in the world
and the habitat of long-distance movement ungulates, such as the Mongolian
gazelle (Procapra gutturosa) and the Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus). The
international railway between Russia and China bisects this habitat, and there has
been concern that it may impede the movements of wild ungulates. We tracked
ungulate movements on both sides of the Ulaanbaatar–Beijing Railway, and found
that most of the tracked animals never crossed the railway. The construction of
additional railways to permit mining projects in the area is therefore a further threat
to maintaining the great migrations of ungulates across Mongolia.
Keywords Asiatic wild ass Á Dryland Á Grassland Á Desert Á Long-distance
movement Á Mongolian gazelle Á NDVI Á Remote sensing Á Satellite tracking Á
Terrestrial mammal
Introduction
Mongolia occupies an area of 1,564,100 km
2 in central Asia. Mainly due to its low
human population density (2.0 ind./km
2 in 2015 for all of Mongolia; National
Statistical Office of Mongolia 2016), it harbors the largest grassland in the world.
Several species of ungulates inhabit this grassland, including the Mongolian gazelle
(Procapra gutturosa), the goitered gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa), and the Asiatic
wild ass (Equus hemionus), with some of them, such as the Mongolian gazelle,
forming large herds (Fig. 14.1).
T.Y. Ito (&) Á A. Tsunekawa
Arid Land Research Center, Tottori University, Tottori, Japan
e-mail: ito@alrc.tottori-u.ac.jp
B. Lhagvasuren
Institute of General and Experimental Biology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences,
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
M. Shinoda
Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
© The Author(s) 2017
L. Borda-de-Água et al. (eds.), Railway Ecology,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57496-7_14
229