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Abstract.A growing number of human activities are among the top factors causing habitat loss and fragmentation. The aim of this study was to investigate the temporal changes in habitat suitability, connectivity status and analysis of these changes using landscape ecology approach. Evidences indicate high probability of local extinction of Caspian red deer (Cervus elaphus maral Gray, 1850) in the current habitats of Guilan province in the north of Iran due to severe habitat destruction. In this study, habitat suitability layers and corridors were drawn with combining layers of land cover derived from the interpretation of satellite images, elevation, topography and distance to man-made in the period 1990-2015. Accordingly, 35% decrease in area metric of habitat suitability, 34% increase in the number of patches, 89% in edge density and 53% reduction in the average size of patches indicate that the occurrence of habitat fragmentation along with habitat loss, severely disrupted the integrity of the habitat. As a result, in all corridors, the relative share of semi-dense and dense forest cover were reduced. Research results have given a clear picture of the extent of changes in habitat suitability and connectivity paths that can have an effective role in restoration process.

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