Sarma Kuladip, Saikia Malabika Kakati, Sarania Bidyut, Basumatary Himolin, Baruah Siddhartha Sankar, Saikia Bhrigu Prasad, Kumar Awadhesh, Saikia Prasanta Kumar
Department of Zoology, Animal Ecology and Wildlife Biology Lab., Gauhati University, Gopinath Bordoloi Nagar, Jalukbari, Guwahati-14, Assam, India.
Department of Zoology, Cotton University, Panbazar, Guwahati-01, Assam, India.
Sci Rep. 2021 Jul 29;11(1):15427. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-94844-8.
The present study aimed at predicting the potential habitat of Western Hoolock Gibbon (Hoolock hoolock) in the upper Brahmaputra River Valley, Assam, India, and identifying priority conservation areas for the species, taking canopy cover into account. We used the maximum entropy algorithm for the prediction of the potential habitat of the gibbon using its current distribution with 19 environmental parameters as primary predictors. Spatio-temporal analyses of the habitat were carried out using satellite-based remote sensing and GIS techniques for two decades (1998-2018) along with Terra Modis Vegetation Continuous Field product to examine land use land cover (LULC), habitat fragmentation, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and tree cover percentage of the study area. To identify the conservation priority area, we applied a cost-effective decision-making analysis using systematic conservation prioritization in R programming. The model predicted an area of 6025 km under high potential habitat, a major part of which was found to overlap with dense forest (80%), followed by moderately open forest (74%) and open forest (66%). The LULC change matrix showed a reduction of forest area in the predicted high potential habitat during the study period, while agricultural class showed an increasing trend. The fragmentation analysis indicated that the number of patches and patch density increased from 2008 to 2018 in the 'very dense' and 'dense' canopy regions of the gibbon habitat. Based on the conservation priority analysis, a 640 km area has been proposed to conserve a minimum of 10% of gibbon habitat. The current analysis revealed that in the upper Brahmaputra Valley most areas under dense forest and dense canopy have remained intact over the last two decades, at least within the high potential habitat zone of gibbons independent of the degree of area change in forest, agriculture and plantation.
本研究旨在预测印度阿萨姆邦布拉马普特拉河上游流域西部白眉长臂猿（Hoolock hoolock）的潜在栖息地，并考虑树冠覆盖情况，确定该物种的优先保护区。我们使用最大熵算法，以19个环境参数作为主要预测因子，根据白眉长臂猿的当前分布来预测其潜在栖息地。利用基于卫星的遥感和地理信息系统（GIS）技术，结合Terra Modis植被连续场产品，对该栖息地进行了二十年（1998 - 2018年）的时空分析，以研究研究区域的土地利用土地覆盖（LULC）、栖息地破碎化、归一化植被指数（NDVI）和树木覆盖百分比。为了确定保护优先区域，我们在R编程中使用系统保护优先排序法进行了成本效益决策分析。该模型预测出高潜在栖息地面积为6025平方千米，其中大部分与茂密森林重叠（80%），其次是中度开阔森林（74%）和开阔森林（66%）。LULC变化矩阵显示，在研究期间，预测的高潜在栖息地森林面积减少，而农业类别呈增加趋势。破碎化分析表明，在长臂猿栖息地的“非常茂密”和“茂密”树冠区域，斑块数量和斑块密度从2008年到2018年有所增加。基于保护优先分析，已提议划出640平方千米的区域，以保护至少10%的长臂猿栖息地。当前分析表明，在布拉马普特拉河上游流域，过去二十年来，大部分茂密森林和茂密树冠下的区域保持完好，至少在长臂猿的高潜在栖息地范围内，与森林、农业和种植园的面积变化程度无关。
