In Pursuit of New Spaces for Threatened Mammals: Assessing Habitat Suitability for Kashmir Markhor (Capra falconeri cashmeriensis) in the Hindukush Range

Abstract

Natural wild habitats are either destroyed or shrunk due to human interventions. Therefore, habitat evaluation is crucial for managing wildlife populations and designing robust conservation strategies. Species presence data and geographic information system (GIS) coupled with ground-breaking powerful statistical techniques have made such assessments possible. We used maximum entropy modeling (MaxEnt) to identify suitable habitats for Kashmir markhor (Capra falconeri cashmeriensis) in Malakand Division, Pakistan. MaxEnt was applied to 169 markhor sighting points and topographical and current bioclimatic variables. Results showed that the accuracy of the MaxEnt model was good (AUC = 0.889). Of the total area studied (8407.09 km2), 22.35% (1878.75 km2) was highly suitable and 32.63% (2743.53 km2) was moderately suitable for markhor. Protected areas including Chitral Gol National Park (CGNP), Tooshi-Sasha Conservancy (TSC), and Gehrait-Golain Conservancy (GGC) and their buffers were included in highly suitable habitats. MaxEnt also predicted highly suitable habitats in Kumrat and Kalam valleys. We believe that moderately suitable habitats identified in Jinjeret, Ursoon, Birir valley, and Bumborait valley have the potential to host markhor populations. Based on the results obtained in the current study, we strongly recommend expanding the current protected areas (PAs) network in the study area and strengthening it by inclusive conservation management with local communities.

Climate Change and Human Activities, the Significant Dynamic Drivers of Himalayan Goral Distribution (Naemorhedus goral)

“…A threshold value (r ≥ ±0.8) was used to further reduce the number of variables. Any two variables with an r value above the selected threshold were targeted, and those contributing less were omitted [ 26 , 27 , 28 ].…”

Landscape Genetic Analysis for the Japanese Wild Boar in the Early Expanding Stage in the Hokuriku Region of Japan

“…Although there are numerous reports that the landscape genetic approach adopted in this study is beneficial for wild animal management and conservation of native ecosystems (Franz et al, 2012; Sacks et al, 2016; Dellicour et al, 2019; Epps et al, 2019; Ohnishi et al, 2019; Rutten et al, 2019; Khattak et al, 2022), in this study, we were able to comprehensively evaluate multiple landscape elements at the individual level. This study also showed that landscape elements, such as topography and weather, influence the occurrence and dispersal of Japanese wild boars.…”

“…In this context, attention has been paid to the relationship between genetic and geographic distances of target organisms between regions (isolation by distance) or between genetic distances and resistance (isolation by resistance) in an attempt to identify factors that hinder gene flow among populations (Manel et al, 2003; Holderregger and Wangner, 2008). Mammalian species for which landscape genetic analyses have been undertaken include red fox ( Vulpes vulpes ; Sacks et al, 2016), red deer ( Cervus elaphus ; Dellicour et al, 2019), American beaver ( Castor canadensis ; Epps et al, 2019), Asian black bear ( Ursus thibetanus ; Ohnishi et al, 2019), Kashmir markhor ( Capra falconeri cashmeriensis ; Khattak et al, 2022), and wild boars ( Sus scrofa ), mainly in Europe (Franz et al, 2012; Dellicour et al, 2019; Rutten et al, 2019). Most conventional landscape genetic analyses have been conducted at the population level, but the importance of individual-based approaches with specific coordinates of sample locations has been emphasized, especially in the central Japanese archipelago, which has a complex topography within a small area, including narrow plains and high mountains.…”

Evaluation of Inflammatory Cytokine IL-17 and Immunohistochemical Analysis of Cirrhotic Liver from HCV Patients

“…Pearson correlation matrix was used in program R (version 3.6.2) to remove highly correlated variables from the analysis (Welch et al, 1994). After this procedure, ten variables were retained (r < 0.7) (Khattak et al, 2022).…”

“…According to Johnson (1980), mobile animal species make excursions in search of areas comprising all the resources essential for reproduction and survival all year round referred to as habitat selection. However, anthropogenic activities have largely demolished these natural wild habitats bringing many species to extinction (Khattak et al, 2022). Such disturbing effects of human activities have alarmed scientists to safeguard the species by preserving their habitats (Suel, 2019).…”