Fig. 2
Demography, divergence histories, and habitat dynamics of snow leopards. A PSMC analysis revealed the demographic history of snow leopards from approximately 700 to 10 Kya with a generation time (g) of 5 years and a mutation rate (μ) of 4.94 × 10−9 per site per generation. The two yellow blocks represent the Penultimate Glaciation (PG) and the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), respectively. B Stairway-plot2 analysis showed distinct recent demographic trends for the two snow leopard lineages. The Ne of the northern lineage continued to decline after the population rebounded, whereas the southern lineage maintained a relatively stable population after its population recovery. The black dashed line represents the approximate divergence time of the two lineages. C The divergence histories constructed by Fastsimcoal27 indicated that the two snow leopard lineages diverged approximately 25 Kya, coinciding with the appearance of the LGM. D–G Simulation analysis of the habitat dynamics for four periods (Current, Middle-Holocene, LGM, and Last Interglacial period)