Identifying and evaluating the ecological network of Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus) in Tieli Forestry Bureau, northeast China

Abstract

Habitat loss and fragmentation are serious threats to biodiversity worldwide. In order to promote animal movement and gene flow between habitat islands, it is important to identify and evaluate the ecological network of species. In Tieli Forestry Bureau (TFB) in Northeast China, we simulated and evaluated the ecological network of roe deer, aiming to provide theoretical support to population conservation. By using three sources of roe deer occurrence data and 15 environmental variables, we simulated the suitability of habitats using the Maximum Entropy Model (MaxEnt). Then, the corridor design model Linkage Mapper was used to identify and evaluate the linkages between habitat cores which are defined by the home range size of roe deer. The results showed that, of the terrain, land cover, vegetation, and anthropogenic interference factors, the anthropogenic interference factors played the most important and complex role in roe deer habitat selection, creating large-area suitable habitats by farming. Two innovative variables of farmland-forest edge length/patch perimeter (FFE:PP) and viewshed introduced in simulation contributed 8.5% and 2.3%, respectively. Surrounded by the unsuitable habitats, the suitable habitats mainly distributed along both sides of the river, covering 41.8% of the total area of TFB. The ecological network of roe deer was composed of 11 habitat cores and 17 linkages. Three linkages connecting the key habitat cores had low quality and linkage suitability ratios, which were probably due to barrier effect of the HeHa expressway intersecting with the linkages. Our study suggests the priority areas for protecting roe deer and the key locations where the wildlife road-crossing structures or animal guidance measures are needed.