Conservation of appropriate wildlife habitats must take into account existing habitats as well as potential habitats from the viewpoint of the geographical environment. This study focused on the Mountain Hawk-Eagle (Spizaetus nipalensis), a large-size raptor that is listed as Category IB in the Red Data Book of Japan, published by the Ministry of the Environment. The decrease in the Mountain Hawk-Eagle population is a cause for anxiety. In this study, a habitat model was constructed using a multivariate analysis based on spatial data using the Geographic Information System (GIS), and potential habitats were estimated. A logistic regression analysis was performed using an environmental indicator whose database had been constructed using the thirdorder mesh (grid) unit as the independent variable and the existence of eyewitness information of Mountain Hawk-Eagle as the dependent variable. Consequently, a habitat model could be constructed that explained 64.1% of the eyewitness information. The model was used to draw a potential habitat map of the Mountain Hawk-Eagle, and then the relationships between potential habitats and planned roads were analyzed. As a result, vulnerable areas in potential habitats in Tottori Prefecture were then extracted. In the future, the potential habitats identified in this study will allow us to analyze environments used for behaviors such as nesting and hunting, to extract areas that are extremely important for habitation, and to develop proper measures to protect the Mountain HawkEagle.
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