关键词: 藏羚, 迁徙, 降雪, 梯度, 青藏高原, 植被演变

Abstract: Female Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsoni), migrate seasonally,and follow specific routes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau during the course of a migration. Female antelopes leave their winter ranges with plentiful food resource and travel to relatively barren breeding grounds for breeding,such as Zhuonai Lake,Taiyang Lake in Kekexili Nature Reserve and Muztag Feng in Arjin Shan Nature Reserve;and after breeding,they return to their winter ranges. It remains unclear why they migrate to breeding grounds for breeding. Although a variety of explanations have been offered,most of them fail to give sufficient illustration and proof. Here we propose a hypothesis for their migration,taking into consideration of both the snowfall cline and the geological vegetation evolution of its habitats——Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,where snowfall makes main type of precipitation owing to its high elevation and low temperature. In our hypothesis,the breeding grounds are possible the original habits of Tibetan antelope according to the geological egetation evolution of Qinghai-Tibet plateau. Because snowfall decreases gradually from southeast to northwest within the Qinghai-Tibet plateau,we hypothesize that female Tibetan antelope migrate from winter ranges (in the southeast)to breeding grounds (in the northwest)to avoid relatively high snowfall. We hypothesize that the climatic conditions in breeding grounds favor survival of newborns.

Key words: Migration, Pantholops hodgsoni, Qinghai-Tibetan lateau, Snowfall, Tibetan antelope, Vegetation evolution