Expanding and Linking Protected Areas Network: A Case Study of GAP Analysis and Corridor Design for Brown Bears in Iran

Abstract

The brown bear is Iran's largest carnivore with a wide distribution range. However, the brown bear is listed as nationally endangered. Brown bears' habitats in Iran are very fragmented, especially at the local scale. Thus, researching the potentially suitable habitat areas in a human-dominated landscape like Lorestan province in Iran is vital to ensure the conservation of this species. In this study, we used a presence-only based maximum entropy (MaxEnt) approach to model the brown bear's habitat suitability. Then, we utilized the Gap Analysis to identify the gap between highly suitable habitat areas and the existing protected areas network. Furthermore, the potential habitat corridors were designed between some protected areas, and between a protected area and a no-hunting area to maintain connectivity between them. Our results showed that the most important variables impacting the distribution of brown bears were the distance from roads, annual precipitation, elevation, and distance from agricultural lands respectively. The results also demonstrated that only 7.4% of Lorestan province is considered a highly suitable habitat, with 36.07% remaining unprotected. In conclusion, this study can be a valuable tool for expanding the current protected and no-hunting areas and establishing new ones in the province and other similar regions.