Modeling of potential habitat suitability of Hippocamelus bisulcus: effectiveness of a protected areas network in Southern Patagonia

The development of species distribution models (SDMs) can help conservation efforts by generating potential distributions and identifying areas of high environmental suitability for protection. Our study presents a rigorously derived distribution and habitat map for lowland tapir in South America. We also describe the potential habitat suitability of various geographical regions and habitat loss, inside and outside of protected areas network. Two different SDM approaches, MAXENT and ENFA, produced relative different Habitat Suitability Maps for the lowland tapir. While MAXENT was efficient at identifying areas as suitable or unsuitable, it was less efficient (when compared to the results by ENFA) at identifying the gradient of habitat suitability. MAXENT is a more multifaceted technique that establishes more complex relationships between dependent and independent variables. Our results demonstrate that for at least one species, the lowland tapir, the use of a simple consensual approach (average of ENFA and MAXENT models outputs) better reflected its current distribution patterns. The Brazilian ecoregions have the highest habitat loss for the tapir. Cerrado and Atlantic Forest account for nearly half (48.19%) of the total area lost. The Amazon region contains the largest area under protection, and the most extensive remaining habitat for the tapir, but also showed high levels of habitat loss outside protected areas, which increases the importance of support for proper management.

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Lowland tapir distribution and habitat loss in South America

10.7287/peerj.preprints.1579 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Jose Luis Passos Cordeiro ◽

José MV Fragoso ◽

Danielle Crawshaw ◽

Luiz Flamarion B Oliveira

Keyword(s):

South America ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Habitat Loss ◽

Habitat Suitability ◽

Distribution Patterns ◽

Distribution Models ◽

Potential Habitat ◽

Geographical Regions ◽

Suitability Maps ◽

Complex Relationships

The development of species distribution models (SDMs) can help conservation efforts by generating potential distributions and identifying areas of high environmental suitability for protection. Our study presents a rigorously derived distribution and habitat map for lowland tapir in South America. We also describe the potential habitat suitability of various geographical regions and habitat loss, inside and outside of protected areas network. Two different SDM approaches, MAXENT and ENFA, produced relative different Habitat Suitability Maps for the lowland tapir. While MAXENT was efficient at identifying areas as suitable or unsuitable, it was less efficient (when compared to the results by ENFA) at identifying the gradient of habitat suitability. MAXENT is a more multifaceted technique that establishes more complex relationships between dependent and independent variables. Our results demonstrate that for at least one species, the lowland tapir, the use of a simple consensual approach (average of ENFA and MAXENT models outputs) better reflected its current distribution patterns. The Brazilian ecoregions have the highest habitat loss for the tapir. Cerrado and Atlantic Forest account for nearly half (48.19%) of the total area lost. The Amazon region contains the largest area under protection, and the most extensive remaining habitat for the tapir, but also showed high levels of habitat loss outside protected areas, which increases the importance of support for proper management.

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A Mountain Caribou Strategy for British Columbia

Rangifer ◽

10.7557/2.16.4.1236 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. 149

Author(s):

G.A. McKinnon

Keyword(s):

British Columbia ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Habitat Suitability ◽

Management Strategy ◽

Timber Harvesting ◽

Shared Responsibility ◽

Core Area ◽

Successful Implementation ◽

Potential Habitat ◽

Management Conflicts

Because of the declining population of mountain caribou in British Columbia and the increasing conflict between caribou management and timber harvesting, BC Environment recently has developed a new policy for mountain caribou management in the province. Three options were considered; 1) to manage habitats/populations to potential habitat suitability, 2) to manage habitats/populations to ensure that at least present levels are maintained and 3) to manage habitats/populations within a core area of the province only. The chosen strategy of managing habitats/populations to ensure that at least present levels are maintained is consistent with ministry goals and policies and will likely require that a network of protected areas, buffer areas and linking corridors be established. Initiatives to document existing mountain caribou distribution and to provide options for integrated caribou/timber solutions to management conflicts are ongoing. Successful implementation of this caribou management strategy will require the active participation of the Ministry of Forests since the protection of habitat is a shared responsibility.

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Lowland tapir distribution and habitat loss in South America

10.7287/peerj.preprints.1579v2 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Jose Luis Passos Cordeiro ◽

José MV Fragoso ◽

Danielle Crawshaw ◽

Luiz Flamarion B Oliveira

Keyword(s):

South America ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Habitat Loss ◽

Habitat Suitability ◽

Distribution Patterns ◽

Distribution Models ◽

Potential Habitat ◽

Geographical Regions ◽

Suitability Maps ◽

Complex Relationships

The development of species distribution models (SDMs) can help conservation efforts by generating potential distributions and identifying areas of high environmental suitability for protection. Our study presents a rigorously derived distribution and habitat map for lowland tapir in South America. We also describe the potential habitat suitability of various geographical regions and habitat loss, inside and outside of protected areas network. Two different SDM approaches, MAXENT and ENFA, produced relative different Habitat Suitability Maps for the lowland tapir. While MAXENT was efficient at identifying areas as suitable or unsuitable, it was less efficient (when compared to the results by ENFA) at identifying the gradient of habitat suitability. MAXENT is a more multifaceted technique that establishes more complex relationships between dependent and independent variables. Our results demonstrate that for at least one species, the lowland tapir, the use of a simple consensual approach (average of ENFA and MAXENT models outputs) better reflected its current distribution patterns. The Brazilian ecoregions have the highest habitat loss for the tapir. Cerrado and Atlantic Forest account for nearly half (48.19%) of the total area lost. The Amazon region contains the largest area under protection, and the most extensive remaining habitat for the tapir, but also showed high levels of habitat loss outside protected areas, which increases the importance of support for proper management.

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Lowland tapir distribution and habitat loss in South America

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.2456 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

pp. e2456 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jose Luis Passos Cordeiro ◽

José M.V. Fragoso ◽

Danielle Crawshaw ◽

Luiz Flamarion B. Oliveira

Keyword(s):

South America ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Habitat Loss ◽

Habitat Suitability ◽

Distribution Patterns ◽

Distribution Models ◽

Potential Habitat ◽

Geographical Regions ◽

Suitability Maps ◽

Complex Relationships

The development of species distribution models (SDMs) can help conservation efforts by generating potential distributions and identifying areas of high environmental suitability for protection. Our study presents a distribution and habitat map for lowland tapir in South America. We also describe the potential habitat suitability of various geographical regions and habitat loss, inside and outside of protected areas network. Two different SDM approaches, MAXENT and ENFA, produced relative different Habitat Suitability Maps for the lowland tapir. While MAXENT was efficient at identifying areas as suitable or unsuitable, it was less efficient (when compared to the results by ENFA) at identifying the gradient of habitat suitability. MAXENT is a more multifaceted technique that establishes more complex relationships between dependent and independent variables. Our results demonstrate that for at least one species, the lowland tapir, the use of a simple consensual approach (average of ENFA and MAXENT models outputs) better reflected its current distribution patterns. The Brazilian ecoregions have the highest habitat loss for the tapir. Cerrado and Atlantic Forest account for nearly half (48.19%) of the total area lost. The Amazon region contains the largest area under protection, and the most extensive remaining habitat for the tapir, but also showed high levels of habitat loss outside protected areas, which increases the importance of support for proper management.

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Potential biodiversity map of lizard species in Southern Patagonia: environmental characterization, desertification influence and analyses of protection areas

Amphibia-Reptilia ◽

10.1163/15685381-20181001 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 39 (3) ◽

pp. 289-301 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Yamina Micaela Rosas ◽

Pablo Luis Peri ◽

Guillermo Martínez Pastur

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Habitat Suitability ◽

Human Impacts ◽

Conservation Strategies ◽

Anthropogenic Factors ◽

Individual Species ◽

Lizard Species ◽

North East ◽

Southern Patagonia ◽

Suitability Maps

Abstract The distribution of biodiversity at the landscape level is shaped by biotic, abiotic and anthropogenic factors. Biodiversity maps provide the basis for defining management and conservation strategies that can minimize human impacts. The objective was to elaborate a map of potential biodiversity of lizards based on habitat suitability maps of individual species in Santa Cruz (Argentina). Also, we analysed desertification influence and the representativeness of the current network of protected areas on the lizard biodiversity. For this, we used a database of eight lizard species and we explored 41 potential explanatory variables to develop habitat suitability maps, which were combined to obtain one single map of the potential biodiversity. We analysed the outputs in a GIS project using the marginality and the specialization indexes and the normalized difference vegetation index of each species. Also, we characterized the potential biodiversity using the following variables: desertification, ecological areas and current network of protected areas. We detected differences in the occupied niches for the different species throughout the landscape. The map of potential biodiversity uncovered hotspots of biodiversity in the north-east study area, where the prevalence of unique climatic conditions showed a dry steppe and a high degree of desertification due to the human impacts (e.g. livestock). These results can be readily used as a support system for conservation and management strategies at different scale levels in areas with higher human impacts or to develop new protection areas.

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Wildlife Habitat Evaluation

Environmental Information Systems ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-7033-2.ch007 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 143-148

Author(s):

Peeyush Gupta ◽

Swati Goyal

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Natural Resource ◽

Habitat Suitability ◽

Wildlife Habitat ◽

Suitability Analysis ◽

Habitat Alterations ◽

Complex Interactions ◽

Basic Concepts ◽

Management Recommendations

Before an individual can evaluate wildlife habitat and make management recommendations, some basic concepts about habitat and its relationships to different wildlife species should be understood. In this chapter, some of the basic concepts will be described; mainly analyzing of habitat alterations, landscape analysis, networking and creation of corridor between protected areas, wildlife habitat suitability analysis using Remote Sensing & GIS. Since most of the contest will be based on these concepts. Like other natural resource fields, wildlife management is both an art and science that deals with complex interactions in the environment. This means that management includes art or judgment based on experience as well as sound factual information based on scientific studies.

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Wildlife Habitat Evaluation

Advances in Geospatial Technologies - Remote Sensing Techniques and GIS Applications in Earth and Environmental Studies ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-1814-3.ch013 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 258-264

Author(s):

Peeyush Gupta ◽

Swati Goyal

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Natural Resource ◽

Habitat Suitability ◽

Wildlife Habitat ◽

Suitability Analysis ◽

Habitat Alterations ◽

Complex Interactions ◽

Basic Concepts ◽

Management Recommendations

Before an individual can evaluate wildlife habitat and make management recommendations, some basic concepts about habitat and its relationships to different wildlife species should be understood. In this chapter, some of the basic concepts will be described; mainly analyzing of habitat alterations, landscape analysis, networking and creation of corridor between protected areas, wildlife habitat suitability analysis using Remote Sensing & GIS. Since most of the contest will be based on these concepts. Like other natural resource fields, wildlife management is both an art and science that deals with complex interactions in the environment. This means that management includes art or judgment based on experience as well as sound factual information based on scientific studies.

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