Identifying relationships between multi-scale social-ecological factors to explore ungulate health in a Western Kazakhstan rangeland

1. Rangelands are multi-use landscapes which are socially and ecologically important in different ways. Among other interactions, shared use of rangelands by wildlife and livestock can lead to disease transmission. Understanding wildlife and livestock health and managing disease transmission in rangelands requires an integration of social and ecological knowledge.

2. Using the example of Western Kazakhstan, home to two types of ungulate hosts, the critically-endangered saiga antelopes, Saiga tatarica, and livestock, we conducted a cross-scale analysis of social-economic, ecological and climatic factors that contribute to transmission of diseases. We focused on Gastro-intestinal Nematodes (GINs) because they are transmitted between hosts that share pasture and they affect ungulate fitness. We used an interdisciplinary social-ecological methods approach which included conducting fecal egg counts of GINs in saigas and livestock, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions wit...