Identifying priority core habitats and corridors for effective conservation of brown bears in Iran

A Mohammadi,V Penteriani,J V López-Bao,S A Cushman,K Almasieh,A Khani,D Nayeri,F Ataei

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-79970-z

Abstract

Iran lies at the southernmost range limit of brown bears globally. Therefore, understanding the habitat associations and patterns of population connectivity for brown bears in Iran is relevant for the species’ conservation. We applied species distribution modeling to predict habitat suitability and connectivity modeling to identify population core areas and corridors. Our results showed that forest density, topographical roughness, NDVI and human footprint were the most influential variables in predicting brown bear distribution. The most crucial core areas and corridor networks for brown bear are concentrated in the Alborz and Zagros Mountains. These two core areas were predicted to be fragmented into a total of fifteen isolated patches if dispersal of brown bear across the landscape is limited to 50,000 cost units, and aggregates into two isolated habitat patches if the species is capable of dispersing 400,000 cost units. We found low overlap between corridors, and core habitats with protected areas, suggesting that the existing protected area network may not be adequate for the conservation of brown bear in Iran. Our results suggest that effective conservation of brown bears in Iran requires protection of both core habitats and the corridors between them, especially outside Iran’s network of protected areas.

Highlights

Iran lies at the southernmost range limit of brown bears globally
The 16 km scale had the highest area under the curve (AUC) and True Statistic Skill (TSS) and, it was chosen for connectivity analysis
Our results highlight that crucial core habitats for brown bear conservation in Iran are concentrated in the Zagros and Alborz Mountains with important corridors between them

Summary

Introduction

Iran lies at the southernmost range limit of brown bears globally. understanding the habitat associations and patterns of population connectivity for brown bears in Iran is relevant for the species’ conservation. We found low overlap between corridors, and core habitats with protected areas, suggesting that the existing protected area network may not be adequate for the conservation of brown bear in Iran. Our results suggest that effective conservation of brown bears in Iran requires protection of both core habitats and the corridors between them, especially outside Iran’s network of protected areas. While recent studies have shown that habitat selection is often a poor proxy for resistance to movement and d ispersal[31,32,33], and that genetic and movement data should be used when they are available[34] When such data are not extant, as in the case for brown bear in Iran, habitat quality can be used as the basis of predicting landscape resistance to movement[32,33]

Methods

Results

Conclusion