Nasser Mohamed, Okely Mohammed, Nasif Omaima, Alharbi Sulaiman, GadAllah Sohair, Al-Obaid Sami, Enan Rabia, Bala Madhu, Al-Ashaal Sara
Entomology Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, 11566 Cairo, Egypt.
Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, King Saud University [Medical City], King Khalid University Hospital, PO Box 2925, Riyadh 11461, Saudi Arabia.
Saudi J Biol Sci. 2021 Apr;28(4):2049-2055. doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.01.027. Epub 2021 Jan 20.
Egyptian flower mantis (Order: Mantodea) is a widespread mantis species throughout the southwest Palearctic region. The ecological and geographical distribution of such interesting species is rarely known. So, through this work, habitat suitability models for its distribution through Egyptian territory were created using MaxEnt software from 90 occurrence records. One topographic (altitude) and eleven bioclimatic variables influencing the species distribution were selected to generate the models. The predicted distribution in Egypt was focused on the Delta, South Sinai, the north-eastern part of the country, and some areas in the west including Siwa Oasis. Temporal analysis between the two periods (1900-1961) and (1961-2017) show current reduction of this species distribution through Delta and its surrounding areas, may be due to urbanization. On the other hand, it increases in newly protected areas of South Sinai. Under the future climate change scenario, the MaxEnt model predicted the habitat gains for in RCP 2.6 for 2070 and loss of habitat in RCP 8.5 for the same year. Our results can be used as a basis for conserving this species not only in Egypt, but also throughout the whole of its range, also, it show how the using of geo-information could help in studying animal ecology.
埃及花螳（目：螳螂目）是一种广泛分布于西南古北区的螳螂物种。人们对这种有趣物种的生态和地理分布知之甚少。因此，通过这项工作，利用MaxEnt软件，根据90条出现记录创建了该物种在埃及境内分布的栖息地适宜性模型。选择了一个地形变量（海拔）和11个影响该物种分布的生物气候变量来生成模型。埃及境内的预测分布集中在三角洲、南西奈半岛、该国东北部以及西部的一些地区，包括锡瓦绿洲。对两个时期（1900 - 1961年）和（1961 - 2017年）的时间分析表明，该物种目前在三角洲及其周边地区的分布有所减少，这可能是由于城市化所致。另一方面，它在南西奈半岛新的保护区有所增加。在未来气候变化情景下，MaxEnt模型预测该物种在2070年的RCP 2.6情景下栖息地增加，而在同年的RCP 8.5情景下栖息地减少。我们的研究结果不仅可以作为在埃及保护该物种的依据，也可以作为在其整个分布范围内进行保护的依据，此外，还展示了地理信息的应用如何有助于研究动物生态学。
