A presence-only habitat suitability model for large grazing African ungulates and its utility for wildlife management

Traill, Lochran W.; Bigalke, R. C.

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2028.2006.00717.x

Cited by 30 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Such approaches increase the utility of SDMs, which were already used in PA design and management [20,72,73], to guide population surveys [74][75][76] even when no information about species' absences was available. Regarding future studies, we recommend focusing on northeastern Brazil, as it represents one of driest areas in Neotropical otter distribution.…”

Section: Implications For Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…SDMs were initially developed to predict distributions from incomplete data [13], but have been widely used in other areas related to conservation, such as the impact of biological invasions (see [14]), threatened species monitoring (see [15]), estimating distribution expansion of recovering species [16,17], and evaluating climate change impacts [17][18][19]. These models also identify the most suitable areas for a species, from which we can infer where it is most abundant [20,21] and which environmental characteristics are important to it.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Defining Neotropical Otter Lontra Longicaudis Distribution, Conservation Priorities and Ecological Frontiers

Rheingantz

Menezes

Thoisy

2014

Tropical Conservation Science

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Understanding a species' occurrence requirements is essential for its conservation, and species distribution models (SDMs) are a powerful tool for this purpose. Here we estimated a SDM based on actual distribution information, in relation to climatic, hydrological, human population, and vegetation data sets, to understand the ecological requirements and geographic distribution of the Neotropical otter Lontra longicaudis, a species whose habitat requirements and conservation needs are mostly unknown. Using MaxEnt, we defined its potential distribution and most suitable areas to indicate priority areas for research and to analyze the efficiency of Protected Areas (PAs). Our findings suggest that the range of Neotropical otters could extend beyond their present estimated distribution, adding new areas in northeastern Brazil, Andean region, west Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Mexico, and Argentina, with higher suitability in rain forests (especially Atlantic and Amazon Forests). We also found that PAs are the most suitable areas for otter distribution. Although better than non-protected areas, PAs are close to the median of the suitability values, indicating that they still can be improved to conserve otters. Annual temperature and human population density explained most data variance in our model. We suggest the change of the actual status of Neotropical otter to Least Concern or Near Threatened categories. We recommend verifying the possible sympatry with other otters, and demonstrate that rudimentary and/or occasional recent data of occurrence can also be used in SDMs and contribute to species conservation.Keywords: distribution range, Neotropical otter, niche modeling, reserve design, suitability Resumo Compreender os requisitos para a ocorrência de uma espécie é fundamental para sua conservação, e os modelos de distribuição de espécies (SDM) são uma ferramenta poderosa para essa finalidade. Aqui nós estimamos um SDM a partir de informações reais de distribuição, em relação a conjuntos de dados climáticos, hidrológicos, de população humana e de vegetação para entender as exigências ecológicas e a distribuição geográfica da lontra Neotropical Lontra longicaudis, espécie cujos requisitos de habitat e necessidades para a sua conservação são praticamente desconhecidos. Usando MaxEnt, definimos sua distribuição potencial e as áreas mais adequadas para a espécie a fim de indicar áreas prioritárias para pesquisa e analisar a eficácia das áreas protegidas (APs). Nossos resultados indicam que a distribuição da lontra neotropical poderia se estender além de sua distribuição atual estimada, adicionando novas áreas no nordeste do Brasil, na região andina, no oeste do Equador, na Venezuela, no Peru, no México e na Argentina, com maior adequabilidade em florestas tropicais (especialmente Mata Atlântica e Floresta Amazônica). Descobrimos também que APs são as áreas mais adequadas para a distribuição de lontra. Porém, embora sejam mais adequadas do que áreas não protegidas, as APs estão perto da mediana dos valores de adequa...

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Section: Implications For Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defining Neotropical Otter Lontra Longicaudis Distribution, Conservation Priorities and Ecological Frontiers

Rheingantz

Menezes

Thoisy

2014

Tropical Conservation Science

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“…If the modeling techniques are not robust, the results will be unreliable. The merits of ENFA have been demonstrated in many studies [2][3][4]7,13,34]. Secondly, the environmental factors should be updated.…”

Section: Limitations Of the Present Study And Implications For Furthementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Geographical information systems and ecological niche modeling techniques are increasingly being used to model potential distributions of species and to identify suitable habitats with the aim of improving decision-making in wildlife management [4]. The majority of these methods are based on presence and/or absence data sets for species, and they make the intuitive assumption that the presence of a species is an indicator of suitable habitat and that its absence indicates an unsuitable habitat [7,18].…”

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confidence: 99%

Habitat suitability modeling of amphibian species in southern and central China: environmental correlates and potential richness mapping

Chen

2013

Sci. China Life Sci.

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Successful wildlife management must take into account suitable habitat areas. Information on the correlation between distribution ranges and environmental conditions would, therefore, improve the efficacy of in-situ conservation of wildlife. In this contribution, correlations between environmental factors and the distribution of 51 amphibians in southern and central China were investigated. Ecological niche factor analysis (ENFA) at a spatial resolution of 1° latitude×1° longitude identified a mixture of climatic and habitat factors as important predictors of the occurrence of individual species. The aims of the present work were (i) to evaluate potential distributions of amphibians based on the suitability of areas; (ii) to identify the major environmental descriptors upon which they depend; and (iii) to identify areas of potential high richness that have been overlooked in available inventories. Most of the predicted species ranges of species covered the majority of southern and central China. Six richness hotspots were predicted, of which four have been described previously, but two overlooked (SE Fujian and SE Qinghai). The prediction model was considered to be relatively accurate and it is recommended that these two new potential hotspots should be subjected to further evaluation and sampling efforts. Amphibians have high ecological preference for high humidity and precipitation, and low annual frost days. ENFA is a useful tool in wildlife conservation assessment because it is able to identify potential hotspots where studies on the correlations between environmental descriptors and the occurrence of particular species could be focused. ecological niche factor analysis, habitat suitability modeling, amphibians, China, distributional areas Citation:Chen Y H. Habitat suitability modeling of amphibian species in southern and central China: environmental correlates and potential richness mapping.

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“…In strongly seasonal environments, another hedge provided by the forage reserve is sufficient opportunity for diet selection to meet seasonal quality thresholds. Although range scientists and managers frequently use various vegetative measures of range condition to ensure long-term sustainability [22,23], criteria for evaluating appropriate stocking levels seldom include measures related to the animals present in the system [24,25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating Economic Carrying Capacity for an Ungulate Guild in Western Canada

Kuzyk¹,

Cool²,

Bork³

et al. 2009

TOCONSBJ

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Elk Island National Park in western Canada provides an ideal case study for an economic carrying capacity estimate because it supports high density of four species of ungulates (11/km 2 ), lacks large predators, and is enclosed by a 2.1-meter mesh fence. This high density of ungulates has created persistent management challenges by altering vegetation structure and community composition. Using linear programming, we explored optimal allocation of forage resources for bison (Bison bison bison), moose (Alces andersoni), wapiti (Cervus elaphus manitobensis) and deer (Odocoileus virginianus and O. hemionus) to maximize ungulate biomass and numbers, when constrained by use of the major forage classes and minimum viable populations (MVP) of those ungulate species that do not cross the boundary fence (bison and wapiti). Maximum numbers of animals were achieved by a stocking combination dominated by deer and bison, whereas maximum biomass was attained when bison and moose were abundant but deer were absent. Wapiti remained at MVP during all solutions. Optimal solutions consistent with current ungulate densities were associated with 7 to 11% forage removal. This is less than normally assumed for sustainable forage use, and may reflect the need to account for other biotic and abiotic losses to forage in carrying capacity models for which ungulate densities can be constrained by availability of a preferred forage class (e.g., grass) as well as forage quality. This research extends the conventional animal-unit concept to multispecies systems and provides templates based on forage biomass allocation for resource managers facing similar problems of joint stocking in different environments.

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A presence-only habitat suitability model for large grazing African ungulates and its utility for wildlife management

Cited by 30 publications

References 17 publications

Defining Neotropical Otter Lontra Longicaudis Distribution, Conservation Priorities and Ecological Frontiers

Defining Neotropical Otter Lontra Longicaudis Distribution, Conservation Priorities and Ecological Frontiers

Habitat suitability modeling of amphibian species in southern and central China: environmental correlates and potential richness mapping

Estimating Economic Carrying Capacity for an Ungulate Guild in Western Canada

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