Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Jiroft, Jiroft, Iran.
Department of Nature Engineering, Agricultural Sciences, Natural Resources University of Khuzestan, Mollasani, Iran.
Sci Rep. 2021 Jan 13;11(1):1044. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-79970-z.
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.
伊朗位于全球棕熊的最南端分布范围极限。因此，了解伊朗棕熊的生境关联和种群连通性模式对该物种的保护具有重要意义。我们应用物种分布模型来预测棕熊的生境适宜性，并通过连通性模型来识别种群的核心区域和廊道。研究结果表明，森林密度、地形粗糙度、NDVI 和人类足迹是预测棕熊分布的最关键变量。对于棕熊来说，最重要的核心区域和廊道网络集中在阿尔博兹山脉和扎格罗斯山脉。如果棕熊在景观中的扩散受到限制，使其只能在 50,000 成本单位内扩散，那么这两个核心区域预计将被分割成总共 15 个孤立的斑块；如果该物种能够扩散 400,000 成本单位，那么它们将聚合为两个孤立的栖息地斑块。我们发现廊道和核心栖息地与保护区之间的重叠度较低，这表明现有的保护区网络可能不足以保护伊朗的棕熊。研究结果表明，要有效保护伊朗的棕熊，需要保护核心栖息地和它们之间的廊道，特别是在伊朗保护区网络之外。
