Migration Bottlenecks, Climate, and the Conservation of Pleistocene Relicts in Central Asia


The Open Conservation Biology Journal, 2008

Joel Berger, Kim Murray Berger, Scott Bergen, Bayarbaatar Buuveibaatar, Amanda Fine, Badamjav Lkhagvasuren, Julie K. Young, Peter Zahler

Abstract

Land bridges once assured transcontinental connectivity, but climate-induced habitat loss resulted in the extinction of numerous North American large mammals. Using GPS technology on the formerly widespread but now endangered saiga in Mongolia, we identified a fine-scaled 5-km wide critical corridor, whose protection is critical for maintaining migration and meta-population structure.