Identifying Potential Habitat for the Endangered Aleutian Shield Fern Using Topographical Characteristics

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-310
Author(s):  
Adam Duarte ◽  
Daniel M. Wolcott ◽  
T. Edwin Chow ◽  
Mark A. Ricca

Abstract The Aleutian shield fern Polystichum aleuticum is endemic to the Aleutian archipelago of Alaska and is listed as endangered pursuant to the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Despite numerous efforts to discover new populations of this species, only four known populations are documented to date, and information is needed to prioritize locations for future surveys. Therefore, we incorporated topographical habitat characteristics (elevation, slope, aspect, distance from coastline, and anthropogenic footprint) found at known Aleutian shield fern locations into a Geographical Information System (GIS) model to create a habitat suitability map for the entirety of the Andreaonof Islands. A total of 18 islands contained 489.26 km2 of highly suitable and moderately suitable habitat when weighting each factor equally. This study reports a habitat suitability map for the endangered Aleutian shield fern using topographical characteristics, which can be used to assist current and future recovery efforts for the species.

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (3(SI)) ◽  
pp. 806-811
Author(s):  
N.F. Khodri ◽  
◽  
T. Lihan ◽  
M.A. Mustapha ◽  
T.M. Taher ◽  
...  

Aim: This research assessed the distribution of leopard to predict the habitat suitability in Taman Negara National Park and adjacent forest area. Methodology: Environmental factors for habitat suitability were derived from geographical information system (GIS) data such as elevation, slope, land-use, distance from urban and distance from river. Leopard presence data from 1993 to 2008 were integrated with the environmental parameters using maximum entropy (MaxEnt) modeling to assess habitat suitability across the study area. Results: The results showed that distance from river contributed the most (39.3%) in the habitat suitability modeling followed by distance from urban (31.4%), elevation (12.3%), land use types (10.1%), and slope (6.9%). Distance from river and urban showed highest contribution that influenced leopard distribution in which most suitable habitat occurred in proximity with river and further from urban. Habitat suitability of leopard were distributed among 48% over 2,218,389 ha of the study area. Interpretation: The findings of this study provides knowledge on how the species move and exploit different habitat niches for more effective conservation management. It provide models for future wildlife conservation and urban planning.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 3452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjaneh Mousazade ◽  
Gholamabbas Ghanbarian ◽  
Hamid Reza Pourghasemi ◽  
Roja Safaeian ◽  
Artemi Cerdà

The identification of geographical distribution of a plant species is crucial for understanding the importance of environmental variables affecting plant habitat. In the present study, the spatial potential distribution of Astragalus fasciculifolius Boiss. as a key specie was mapped using maximum entropy (Maxent) as data mining technique and bivariate statistical model (FR: frequency ratio) in marl soils of southern Zagros, Iran. The A. fasciculifolius locations were identified and recorded by intensive field campaigns. Then, localities points were randomly split into a 70% training dataset and 30% for validation. Two climatic, four topographic, and eight edaphic variables were used to model the A. fasciculifolius distribution and its habitat potential. Maps of environmental variables were generated using Geographic Information System (GIS). Next, the habitat suitability index (HSI) maps were produced and classified by means of Maxent and FR approaches. Finally, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUC-ROC) curve was used to compare the performance of maps produced by Maxent and FR models. The interpretation of environmental variables revealed that the climatic and topographic parameters had less impact compared to edaphic variables in habitat distribution of A. fasciculifolius. The results showed that bulk density, nitrogen, acidity (pH), sand, and electrical conductivity (EC) of soil are the most significant variables that affect distribution of A. fasciculifolius. The validation of results showed that AUC values of Maxent and FR models are 0.83 and 0.76, respectively. The habitat suitability map by the better model (Maxent) showed that areas with high and very high suitable classes cover approximately 22% of the study area. Generally, the habitat suitability map produced using Maxent model could provide important information for conservation planning and a reclamation project of the degraded habitat of intended plant species. The distribution of the plants identifies the water, soil, and nutrient resources and affects the fauna distribution, and this is why it is relevant to research and to understand the plant distribution to properly improve the management and to achieve a sustainable management.


2011 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 207
Author(s):  
Wendy Wright ◽  
Xuan Zhu ◽  
Mateusz Okurowski

Toothed Leionema is one of four subspecies of Leionema bilobum from the Rutaceae family. A dense shrub or small tree, growing to ~4 m high, it is a poorly investigated species which is considered rare in Victoria, Australia. This paper presents the results of a study using Geographical Information Systems and Weights-of-Evidence predictive modelling to assess the importance of seven environmental factors in determining habitat suitability for this species in the Strzelecki Ranges, Victoria. This method is particularly useful in understanding the distribution of rare species, especially where the ecology of the species of interest is not well understood. Of the seven environmental factors considered here, four were found to be important: elevation, aspect, distance to water and distance to plantation (disturbed) areas. The modelling results indicate that areas with elevations between 350 and 550 m and a dominant south-western aspect that are close to plantation areas (within 700 m), and to water (within 1100–1200 m), provide potentially suitable habitat for Toothed Leionema in the region.


2003 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
BA Wilson ◽  
WS Laidlaw

Pseudomys novaehollandiae is ‘Endangered’ in Victoria, where it is presently considered to be extant at only three localities Loch Sport, Providence Ponds, and Wilsons Promontory. This study aimed to determine indicators of suitable habitat for the species that could assist in identifying potential habitat and sites for planned re-introductions as part of a recovery program. Vegetation and site data (soils, topography, rainfall, fire age-time since fire) were assessed at localities where P. novaehollandiae was recorded. The species occurred in five structural vegetation groups - open-forest, woodland, heathland, shrubland, grassland, with the most common being open-forest and woodland. Grassland and shrubland were restricted to coastal sand-dunes in south Gippsland. Understorey vegetation at most sites was dominated by sclerophyllous shrubs ranging in cover from 10 - 70%. Classification of quadrats produced eight floristic groups in which the trend was for quadrats to cluster according to geographical location. Ordination confirmed the classification pattern and vector-fitting produced significant correlations between vector points and five variables: species richness, latitude, longitude, fire age and annual rainfall. The study identified a range of vegetation communities where P. novaehollandiae occurs and provided evidence that the species is not restricted to floristically rich and diverse heathlands. The findings can be used to determine further localities with suitable habitat. However, factors other than vegetation are also likely to be important in predicting suitable habitat.


Author(s):  
Jeffrey T. Morisette ◽  
Catherine S. Jarnevich ◽  
Asad Ullah ◽  
Weijie Cai ◽  
Jeffrey A. Pedelty ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
M. A. H. Muhamad ◽  
R. Che Hasan

Abstract. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest to use high-resolution multibeam dataset and Species Distribution Modelling (SDM) for seagrass habitat suitability model. This requires a specific variable derived from multibeam data and in-situ seagrass occurrence samples. The purpose of this study was (1) to derive variables from multibeam bathymetry data to be used in seagrass habitat suitability model, (2) to produce seagrass habitat suitability model using Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt), and (3) to quantify the contribution of each variable for predicting seagrass habitat suitability map. The study area was located at Merambong Shoal, covering an area of 0.04 km2, situated along Johor Strait. First, twelve (12) variables were derived from bathymetry data collected from multibeam echosounder using Benthic Terrain Modeller (BTM) tool. Secondly, all variables and seagrass occurrence samples were integrated in MaxEnt to produce seagrass habitat suitability map. The results showed that the Area Under Curve (AUC) values based on training and test data were 0.88 and 0.65, respectively. The northwest region of survey area indicated higher habitat suitability of seagrass, while the southeast region of survey area indicated lower suitability. Bathymetry mean found to be the most contributed variables among others. The spatial distribution of seagrass from modelling technique agreed with the previous studies and they are found to be distributed at depths ranging from 2.2 to 3.4 meters whilst less suitable with increasing of water depth. This study concludes that seagrass habitat suitability map with high-resolution pixel size (0.5 meter) can be produced at Merambong Shoal using acoustic data from multibeam echosounder coupled with MaxEnt and underwater video observations.


PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e6549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bogdan Cristescu ◽  
Csaba Domokos ◽  
Kristine J. Teichman ◽  
Scott E. Nielsen

Habitat characteristics associated with species occurrences represent important baseline information for wildlife management and conservation, but have rarely been assessed for countries recently joining the EU. We used footprint tracking data and landscape characteristics in Romania to investigate the occurrence of brown bear (Ursus arctos), gray wolf (Canis lupus) and Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) and to compare model predictions between Natura 2000 and national-level protected areas (gap analysis). Wolves were more likely to occur where rugged terrain was present. Increasing proportion of forest was positively associated with occurrence of all large carnivores, but forest type (broadleaf, mixed, or conifer) generally varied with carnivore species. Areas where cultivated lands were extensive had little suitable habitat for lynx, whereas bear occurrence probability decreased with increasing proportion of built areas. Pastures were positively associated with wolf and lynx occurrence. Brown bears occurred primarily where national roads with high traffic volumes were at low density, while bears and lynx occurred at medium-high densities of communal roads that had lower traffic volumes. Based on predictions of carnivore distributions, natural areas protected in national parks were most suitable for carnivores, nature parks were less suitable, whereas EU-legislated Natura 2000 sites had the lowest probability of carnivore presence. Our spatially explicit carnivore habitat suitability predictions can be used by managers to amend borders of existing sites, delineate new protected areas, and establish corridors for ecological connectivity. To assist recovery and recolonization, management could also focus on habitat predicted to be suitable but where carnivores were not tracked.


Mammalia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 84 (5) ◽  
pp. 413-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Germán Garrote ◽  
Javier Fernández-López ◽  
Eva Rojas ◽  
Guillermo López ◽  
Miguel Angel Simón

AbstractThe creation of new populations through reintroductions in their former range is still necessary for the long-term conservation of the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus). A large-scale assessment of habitat suitability is a necessary prerequisite for evaluating the possibility of carrying out lynx reintroductions. We modelled habitat suitability for the Iberian lynx in the Iberian Peninsula using MaxEnt. Lynx presence data for 2010–2013 from Andujar-Cardeña and Doñana populations were used. Habitat variables were quantified using the CORINE Land Cover. This habitat suitability model predicted an environmentally suitable area of 87,747 km2, which represents 14.08% of the whole Iberian Peninsula. Of the total suitable habitat identified, 45% is located in a large continuous area in the south-western quadrant coinciding with the historical range of the species in the mid-20th century. However, there are also relevant patches mainly in the north-eastern quadrant. About 55% of the potential area suitable for the lynx falls outside protected areas. If Iberian lynx populations are to attain levels that will facilitate their long-term survival, it will be necessary to consider potential habitat for the species throughout the whole of the Iberian Peninsula.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tri Atmoko ◽  
Ani Mardiastuti ◽  
Muhammad Bismark ◽  
Lilik Budi Prasetyo ◽  
Entang Iskandar

The proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) is an endemic species to Borneos’ island and is largely confined to mangrove, riverine, and swamp forest. Most of their habitat is outside the conservation due to degraded and habitat converted. Habitat loss is a significant threat to a decreased in the monkey's population. Berau Delta is an unprotected habitat of proboscis monkey, lacking in attention and experiencing a lot of disturbances. This study was conducted on April – August 2019; with aims of the study is to determine Species Distribution Modeling (SDM) for identifying proboscis monkey habitat suitability in Delta Berau, East Kalimantan. The MaxEnt algorithm was used to produce a habitat suitability map based on this species’ occurrence records and environmental predictors. We built the models using 208 points of proboscis monkey presence and 12 environment variables within the study area. Model performance was assessed by examining the area under the curve. The variables most influencing the habitat suitability model were the riverine habitat (60.9%), distance from the pond (16.0%), and distance from the coastline (5.2%). The proboscis monkey suitable habitat is only 9.32% (8,726.58 ha) from 93,631.41 ha total area. The appropriate habitat areas are Sapinang Island, Bungkung Island, Sambuayan Island, Saodang Kecil Island, Besing Island, Lati River, Bebanir Lama, Batu-Batu, and Semanting Bay. We provide some suggestions for the proboscis monkey conservation, which are local protection of uninhabited islands, participatory ecotourism management, and company involvement in protection and management efforts.


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