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Model of maximum current flow. The map was displayed using Quantile classification method. Habitat patches are uniquely numbered for reference.
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Habitat loss and fragmentation of the wildlife species due to anthropogenic developments have been becoming serious issues in biological conservation. Alborz wild sheep, listed as threatened by IUCN, is distributed in relatively small and isolated patches in an increasingly human dominated landscape in the north-central Iran and east of Tehran. We...
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... The corridor between Core2 and Core3 with good river density and zero road length facilitated the movement of mouflon individuals between two CAs (Abdolrezagh PA and Bijar PA). Yeganeh Keya et al. (2016) revealed that there was low connectivity among core habitats of mouflon in Tehran County (the capital of Iran) resulting from highways. In addition, the development of road networks has been reported as the cause of low connectivity of mouflon individuals among the CAs in the south of Iran (Eslamlou et al., 2022). ...
Connectivity among conservation areas helps to alleviate the negative impacts of habitat fragmentation. Mouflon (Ovis gmelini) as a near threatened species has an unclear habitat connectivity status among conservation areas in the west of Iran. This study was carried out on mouflon with the aim of modeling the habitat suitability and connectivity among core habitats in the west of Iran. An ensemble of three machine-learning models and a factorial least-cost path were used for identifying core habitats and corridors between them, respectively. Our results revealed that grassland density, elevation, slope and distance to roads were the most influential variables for predicting the occurrence of mouflon in the study area. Five core habitats were identified for mouflon in the study area, about 90% of which was covered by conservation areas. The core habitat in the north of the study area is the highest priority for conservation. Conservation areas in the northern and western parts of the study area had the best connectivity for mouflon. To prevent mouflon poaching, the protection of corridors among conservation areas should be considered. In addition, predicted corridors of connectivity modeling in areas crossed by roads, could be investigated for the conservation of mouflon by wildlife managers.
... Wild sheep are resident in the foothills, where essential environmental features, including suitable vegetation cover namely, Scariola orientalis and Astragalus spp, as well as availability of water (river and spring) are found, which certainly influenced the presence of this species. These results are in accordance with the ecology of this species, as cited in the relevant literature (Firouz, 2005;Jafari et al., 2018;Keya et al., 2016;Malakoutikhah et al., 2020;Rezvani et al., 2020;Shackleton, D. M (ed.). the IUCN/SSC Caprinae Specialist Group. (1997), 1997Ziaei, 2009). ...
One of the key purposes of conservation selection strategies is to design a network of sites to support relevant biodiversity components and, therefore, decrease the risk of populations becoming isolated. To this end, it is important to be aware of the habitat locations of the target species and the threats of human activities, in order to identify areas of a high conservation priority. This paper takes the Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province (Iran) as a case study, to highlight a network optimization for six target species of conservation concern, including the Persian leopard, Panthera pardus Pocock, wild sheep, Ovis orientalis Gmelin and wild goat, Capra aegagrus Erxleben. To run the optimization, we first generated the following input data: we modelled suitable habitats, using the InVEST model (Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs) and simulated the ecological impact of road networks (Spatial Road Disturbance Index (SPROADI), Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) and the Landscape Ecological Risk Index (ERI)). A visual inspection of the input data revealed that a large percentage of the study area constitutes a suitable habitat for the target species, however, the disturbances caused by the road demonstrate that the central and north-eastern regions of the study area are significantly affected. Indeed, approximately 10% and 25% of the study area are in the high and medium risk categories, respectively. Optimization using Marxan, shows that the north-western and southern regions of the study area should be given high conservation priority, necessary for an efficient conservation network. Habitats located in the north-central region should act as stepping-stone areas or corridors between the isolated regions in the north-east and the well-connected areas in the north-west and south. Overall, the findings of the present study show that the current network of protected areas is not contradictory to that suggested by Marxan, but has deficiencies in terms of size and stepping-stones.
... Finally, habitat patches were selected based on habitat suitability code 5 (Very high suitability), and based on local expert knowledge, we selected patches with a surface area of at least 10 ha. In addition, derived maps of habitat patches were examined and then overlaid with expert-informed resistance maps, literature review (Jaafari, Sakieh, Shabani, Danehkar, & Nazarisamani, 2016;Keya, Faryadi, Yavari, Kamali, & Shabani, 2016;Zehzad, Kiabi, & Madjnoonian, 2002) as well as interviews with guards of the protected area with good knowledge of the ecology of wild sheep. ...
... With HSI model established, the distribution site data (81, 50) of Marco Polo sheep sites and excrements in summer and winter surveyed at field in 2018 were used to validate the accuracy of suitability analysis results Liu et al., 2016). With reference to previous studies on Marco Polo sheep in Tajikistan and experts' opinion, around 10 km 2 of the optimum habitat could sustain around 20 individuals of Marco Polo sheep in summer, which was at least 5 km 2 to keep the group in the same size in winter (Yeganeh et al., 2016). This paper took the habitat patches greater than 10 km 2 of the optimum habitat in summer as the core patches (CPs), while the patches larger than 5 km 2 in winter were taken as the CPs. ...
... High altitudes, some 4000 meters in some places, have often expanded to eastern-western parts of the northern part of the province. The postal and plain areas of the central provinces of the province are about 1,500 meters tall (Norozi et al., 2017;Keya et al., 2016). This general shape of the earthquake in the Alborz province has shaped a variety of different landforms in the province and also created the climatic diversity of the province. ...
In this study, three criteria and 10 sub-criteria and 18 indicators based on the ecological, economic and social characteristics of the Alborz province, while reviewing the internal and external resources, and using 30 expert opinions were sought in order to reach a collective consensus. Also to measure their weight, the FAHP fuzzy hierarchy process was used. Then, using weighted linear combination and geographic information system, the fuzzy desirability map of desirable arenas and their area were determined for industrial development of the province. Considering the highest accuracy and overlapping error of each of the models separately provides the best field for industrial development in the province. The results of this study shows that the integration of colonial competition and genetics meta-evolutionary algorithms for optimizing, due to the multiplicity of repetitions to achieve an optimal goal, while considering uncertainty, to provide an optimal model for locating potential and prone areas and prone to industrial development is very useful and it is possible to use it and taking into account the indigenous criteria of each province of the country, to prepare and use the optimal model of industrial development of each province of the country for decision making. The obtained results show that more than 66,000 hectares of research area has capability are based on the optimal compilation model presented for industrial development.
... In addition, the accuracy of the elevation models is higher in flat versus rugged areas ( Riley et al. 1999). It has been recorded that slope is a structural element of minor impor- tance in the elaboration of models of the potential distribu- tion of wild ungulates that inhabit mountainous areas; in contrast, vegetation, climate and the anthropic component are the variables with the greatest influence on their distri- bution ( Keya et al. 2016;Khan et al. 2016). ...
The bighorn sheep is an iconic species in Baja California, being a key element for environmental conservation across its distribution range
due to the huge dimensions of its habitat. In this regard, priority areas should be identified to propose feasible management practices. In this
context, ecological niche models are essential because they are important methodological tools that indicate the suitability of the habitat for proper species development, based on field observations and multiple environmental variables as occupancy predictors. This investigation aims to identify the potential distribution range of the bighorn sheep in Sierra de Juarez using an ecological niche model. Indirect signs of the presence of bighorn sheep were sampled in Sierra de Juárez from January to June 2016 in order to gather evidence of the species, along with records from an aerial survey carried out in 2012. The ecological niche model was constructed applying the maximum-entropy algorithm assisted with the Maxent software. Ruggedness, orientation, slope, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), type of vegetation, and type of weather were used as predictive variables. In Sierra de Juarez, bighorn sheep inhabit an area of 49,844 ha with the following characteristics: climates ranging from very arid semi-warm [BWh(x’)] to very arid temperate [BWk(x’) and BWks]; natural vegetation comprising gallery and palm-tree
patches; NDVI of 0.05 to 0.07; orientation of 0 to160°; slope of 0 to 65 %; and ruggedness of 35 to160 m (Figure 4). NDVI, vegetation type and ruggedness were the variables with the greatest contribution to the ecological niche model (Table 1). Bighorn sheep are distributed primarily in the northern and central regions of Sierra de Juárez (Figure 2). According to the niche model, these areas have environmental conditions that provide shelter and resources for this species. Therefore, it is hereby proposed to organize the local landowners to implement actions to protect the bighorn sheep habitat to warrant the conservation of this iconic species and its environment in the region studied.
... In Iran, SDMs have also recently attracted a great deal of attention and have been carried out at different scales with different methods or species (Farrashi et al. 2010, Ghandali 2010, Goljani et al. 2010, Maleki-Najafabadi et al. 2010, Omidi et al. 2010, Sarhangzadeh et al. 2013, Morovati et al. 2014, Khosravi et al. 2016, Yeganeh-Keya et al. 2016. However, insufficient data on species distribution, along with a lack of high quality digital environmental variables maps, currently hinders modeling efforts in Iran. ...
... According to previous studies of leopard (Gavashelishvili and Lukarevskiy 2008, Khorozyan 2008, Farhadinia et al. 2009, Abdollahi 2015, Maharjan et al. 2017) and wild sheep (Ghandali 2010, Goljani et al. 2010, Sarhangzadeh et al. 2013, Yeganeh-Keya et al. 2016, and based on data availability, eight predictor variables were selected for distribution modeling of leopard and seven variables for wild sheep (Table 1). Altitude data were downloaded from the USGS database at approximately 30 × 30 m spatial resolution. ...
The maximum entropy (Maxent) model was used to predict the distribution of Persian leopards and wild sheep in the Tang-e-Sayad protected area in Iran. For this purpose, eight variables, as well as 30 occurrence points of leopard and 98 points of wild sheep, were used. Two techniques, density-based occurrence points thinning and performance-based predictor variables selection were used to improve the results of the model. The model results were analyzed based on four threshold limit-based statistics (sensitivity, specificity, kappa and true skill statistics) and area under the curve (AUC), followed by determining the relative importance of variables based on the jackknife procedure. The results of threshold limit-based statistics revealed that the success of the model for distribution prediction of leopard and wild sheep were good and relatively good, respectively. According to the jackknife procedure, for wild sheep and for leopard, slope and distance to road, respectively, were the most important predictor variables. The results also indicated that the efficiency of the model did not improve by reducing the density of occurrence points for the wild sheep (AUC=0.784–0.773). However, the selection of predictor variables slightly improved the performance of the model (AUC=0.794–0.819). The results of the study also showed overlapping habitat for two species due to both human and ecological reasons for which we proposed some conservation actions such as excluding domestic grazing, controlling illegal poaching and restoration of old migratory corridors.
There has been a growing pressure of human activities, especially road network, on natural habitats of the world, which has led to habitat degradation and loss of ecosystem services. To mitigate the impacts of human activities, appropriate studies quantifying ecosystem services and assessing ecological impacts of road network are essential. The main goal of this study was modeling habitat quality and habitat degradation of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province in the southwestern part of Iran, which is among the most important habitats for wild sheep (Ovis orientalis) classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. In this study, we used the habitat quality module of the InVEST software (Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs), which was driven from land use/cover data, information on anthropogenic threats, and expert knowledge. We tested the reliability of the habitat quality values by comparing them with the distribution map of wild sheep obtained from the Department of the Environment. Then, to have a more comprehensive assessment of the roads’ effects on the natural habitats of this province, considering ecosystem services model, the Spatial Road Disturbance Index (SPROADI) was applied as a landscape index. The results of this study revealed that the east and north eastern parts of the study area which were among the most suitable habitats for wild sheep were highly affected by road network. Overall, findings of our study provided useful information on the spatially explicit distribution of habitat quality and degradation which were a valuable input for conservation planning and enhancing ecosystem services.
