A multi-scale, multi-species approach for assessing effectiveness of habitat and connectivity conservation for endangered felids

Ashrafzadeh, Mohammad Reza; Khosravi, R.; Adibi, Mohammad Ali; Taktehrani, Atie; Wan, Ho Yi; Cushman, Samuel A.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108523

Cited by 76 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…The dispersal ability of a species can affect core habitats and connectivity predictions significantly. Our findings are in accordance with previous studies 22 , 29 , 42 – 44 . Indeed, several past research studies have shown that often dispersal ability is much more influential on connectivity predictions than relative landscape resistance or connectivity algorithm 22 , 80 , 92 .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

“…The resistant kernel connectivity maps were used to identify brown bear core areas 9 , 15 . We defined core habitat patches as contiguous patches with resistant kernel values > 25% of the highest recorded for the species 29 , 40 . To evaluate the effectiveness of the current network of protected areas in providing connectivity for this species in Iran, we quantified the extent and percentage of predicted core areas and corridors for this species within the current network.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Habitat suitability modeling and connectivity analyses are foundational to these two critical objectives. In recent years several studies have used multi-scale habitat modeling as the foundation for conservation prioritization 11 , 22 , 25 – 29 , concluding that multi-scale optimization greatly improves prediction of habitat quality 30 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Identifying priority core habitats and corridors for effective conservation of brown bears in Iran

Mohammadi

Almasieh²,

Nayeri

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Iran lies at the southernmost range limit of brown bears globally. Therefore, understanding the habitat associations and patterns of population connectivity for brown bears in Iran is relevant for the species’ conservation. We applied species distribution modeling to predict habitat suitability and connectivity modeling to identify population core areas and corridors. Our results showed that forest density, topographical roughness, NDVI and human footprint were the most influential variables in predicting brown bear distribution. The most crucial core areas and corridor networks for brown bear are concentrated in the Alborz and Zagros Mountains. These two core areas were predicted to be fragmented into a total of fifteen isolated patches if dispersal of brown bear across the landscape is limited to 50,000 cost units, and aggregates into two isolated habitat patches if the species is capable of dispersing 400,000 cost units. We found low overlap between corridors, and core habitats with protected areas, suggesting that the existing protected area network may not be adequate for the conservation of brown bear in Iran. Our results suggest that effective conservation of brown bears in Iran requires protection of both core habitats and the corridors between them, especially outside Iran’s network of protected areas.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Identifying priority core habitats and corridors for effective conservation of brown bears in Iran

Mohammadi

Almasieh²,

Nayeri

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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“…Habitats outside Protected Areas (PAs) can support relatively high densities of leopards ( Gubbi et al, 2017a ) and act as important corridors or stepping stones ( Chundawat, 2018 ) that maintain landscape integrity and therefore population viability. Maintaining connectivity through such habitats have shown to benefit large carnivores, including leopards, to maintain genetic variability, avoid genetic bottlenecks, acting as sink sites to maintain landscape-level population viability both in India and elsewhere even when such habitats contain high human densities ( Dutta et al, 2013a , 2016 ; Sharma et al, 2013 ; Carter et al, 2015 ; Gubbi et al, 2017b ; Farhadiniaa et al, 2015 ; Ashrafzadeh et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Every hill has its leopard: patterns of space use by leopards (Panthera pardus) in a mixed use landscape in India

Gubbi

Sharma

Kumara

2020

PeerJ

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Understanding abundance and distribution of species is often necessary for wildlife conservation. However, elusive species such as the leopard (Panthera pardus) that have wide geographical distribution and typically low abundance pose a constant challenge to conservationists due to logistical and methodological constraints. Although leopard abundance has been estimated at the scale of protected areas or other smaller regions, reliable information describing leopard distribution over large spatial scales remains largely unavailable. Knowledge about space use by leopards within landscapes could help improve conservation management, reduce human-wildlife conflict, and also facilitate population status monitoring. We carried out occupancy surveys across c. 24,000 km2 in southern India in a landscape that consisted a mosaic of leopards’ natural habitats and highly human-dominated areas. We investigated the effects of key ecological and anthropogenic variables in determining leopard space use patterns. We addressed imperfect detections obtained using sign surveys conducted on spatially replicated transects within sampling units by modeling detection as a function of spatial auto-correlation and covariates. Our results show that the probability of site-use by leopards across the landscape varied between 0.02 (95% CI [0.01–0.09]) and 0.99 (95% CI [0.99–1.0]) across the study area. The best model (AIC weight = 0.97) showed that the probability of leopard space use was affected by the proportion of natural habitats and the presence of large wild prey in the sampling unit. Given that India is undergoing rapid modifications due to economic changes and demand for natural resources, we emphasize the need for landscape-based approach for conserving and monitoring leopards. We argue that leopards are an indicator of functional ecosystems represented by scrub, deciduous forest and rocky outcrops that do not always get prioritized for conservation, unlike densely forested habitats. Similarly, conservation of natural large wild prey, especially outside the protected area system, should assume greater importance, which could also have a positive impact on reducing human-leopard conflict.

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“…Warren, Glor, and Turelli (2008) suggested using the ENM method to test whether ecological niches are different or identical between species. The approach has been used to compare ecological niche differentiation between two or more taxa, which contributes to illustrating the relationship of species, and their evolutionary biology (Ashrafzadeh et al, 2020; Bett, Blair, & Sterling, 2012; Iannella, Cerasoli, & Biondi, 2017). Furthermore, ENM has been integrated with phylogeography, which is becoming great potential when the combination has provided a deep understanding on the geographical pattern of species (Pahad, Montgelard, & van Vuuren, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological niche differentiation of two salamanders (Caudata: Hynobiidae) from Hokkaido Island, Japan

Tran

Terui²,

Nomoto

et al. 2020

Ecological Research

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Understanding environmental factor determining ecological niche is very important to elucidating the distribution of species, and also revealing how closely related species are able to coexist in a particular region. Here, we applied ecological niche modeling to develop the ecological niches of two hynobiid salamanders: Salamandrella keyserlingii and Hynobius retardatus which are co‐occurring on Hokkaido Island, Japan. We, then, tested hypotheses about ecological niche differentiation between the two species. Our models showed that the potential distribution of S. keyserlingii was strictly limited to a small area at Kushiro Marsh, while the suitable distribution of H. retardatus was covered widely on Hokkaido Island. The results revealed the little geographic range overlap and the differentiation on the requirements of the ecological condition between the two species. We found nonequivalent niches in identity tests and counterintuitive results in background tests, indicating that S. keyserlingii has used a habitat subset of H. retardatus. Overall, our result contributed to understand the ecological niche space, and suggest the historical formation of these species on Hokkaido Island. The models can also be used to aid conservation purposes, such as habitat management, planning and designation of protected areas.

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A multi-scale, multi-species approach for assessing effectiveness of habitat and connectivity conservation for endangered felids

Cited by 76 publications

References 59 publications

Identifying priority core habitats and corridors for effective conservation of brown bears in Iran

Identifying priority core habitats and corridors for effective conservation of brown bears in Iran

Every hill has its leopard: patterns of space use by leopards (Panthera pardus) in a mixed use landscape in India

Ecological niche differentiation of two salamanders (Caudata: Hynobiidae) from Hokkaido Island, Japan

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