Water resource selection of large mammals for water resources planning

Abstract

Iran is one of the driest countries in the world and shortage of water is one of the main concerns for wildlife conservation in this country. We have studied eight mammal species at Bafgh protected area at the center of Iran. We have investigated the physic-chemical parameters (salinity, chlorine, bicarbonate, carbonate, calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, total dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen, water temperature, electrical conductivity, and pH) and geo-ecological characteristics (altitude, slope, distance of settlements in rural area, distance of road, distance of stream, distance of protection station, distance of mine, distance of human-made construction, percent coverage of Phragmites australis, percent coverage of Pistacia atlantica, percent coverage of Peganum harmala, percent coverage of Punica granatum) of water bodies and their relationships with big mammals’ visiting frequencies from these water bodies. We have developed species–environment relationships using a backward-selected logistic regression. A separate model has been developed for each species, because we expected that different species may respond differently to environmental parameters. Our results showed that slope, elevation, and distance of settlement, road, protection station, mine, and human-made construction are the most important variables in the selection of water sources for the studied species. Our results also indicated that natural water resources in summer had the highest importance for Panthera pardus, Ovis orientalis, Vulpes vulpes, Felis silvestris, and Capra aegagrus, while during the season the artificial water resource showed the highest priority for Caracal caracal, Gazella bennettii, and Canis aureus. Therefore, it is suggested that protected area managers pay more attention to natural water bodies to be sure that wildlife does not face water shortage in critical seasons.