AlRashidi Monif, Abdelgadir Mohanad, Shobrak Mohammed
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Ha'il, PO Box 2440, Hail, Saudi Arabia.
School of Natural Sciences, Technology and Environmental Studies, Södertörn University, Stockholm, 14189 Huddinge, Sweden.
Saudi J Biol Sci. 2021 Sep;28(9):5034-5041. doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.05.020. Epub 2021 May 12.
Many factors affect the habitat selection for animal species, which in turn may greatly affect their distribution in different ecosystems. Understanding the processes that affect habitat selection is also critical for guiding and managing conservation initiatives. Our study aimed to assess the habitat selection by free-ranging Spiny-tailed lizard () by analyzing a geospatial data connecting its burrow parameters to different habitat characteristics within selected sites in Hail region, Saudi Arabia. We examined evidence and patterns of significant spatial clustering for (366) active burrows by linking their parameters (burrow entrance size, burrow entrance width and burrow entrance height), their reference geographical locations and, two habitat characteristics defined by soil type and vegetation cover. The objective of the analysis was to increase the understanding on the burrows aggregation process in the space and, to describe its possible relation to other spatial habitat configurations. Analysis of distances based on the Nearest Neighbor Index (NNI) and hotspots detection in Nearest neighbor hierarchical clustering (Nnh) suggested twelve (12) spatial clusters located within the study area. In addition, a spatial ordinary least square (OLS) and Poisson regression models revealed significant effects of soil type and vegetation cover on burrow parameters (OLS, ), which indicate a strong association between burrows parameters and habitats characteristics. Findings from the study also suggest that other factors such as elevations, highways, and human settlement concentration spots could possibly play a major role in defining burrow spatial aggregation and furthermore have a significant impact on habitat selection.
许多因素会影响动物物种的栖息地选择，而这反过来又可能极大地影响它们在不同生态系统中的分布。了解影响栖息地选择的过程对于指导和管理保护举措也至关重要。我们的研究旨在通过分析地理空间数据来评估自由放养的刺尾蜥蜴（）的栖息地选择，该数据将其洞穴参数与沙特阿拉伯哈伊勒地区选定地点内的不同栖息地特征联系起来。我们通过将366个活跃洞穴的参数（洞穴入口大小、洞穴入口宽度和洞穴入口高度）、它们的参考地理位置以及由土壤类型和植被覆盖定义的两个栖息地特征相联系，来研究显著空间聚类的证据和模式。分析的目的是增进对洞穴在空间中的聚集过程的理解，并描述其与其他空间栖息地配置的可能关系。基于最近邻指数（NNI）的距离分析和最近邻层次聚类（Nnh）中的热点检测表明，研究区域内有12个空间聚类。此外，空间普通最小二乘法（OLS）和泊松回归模型揭示了土壤类型和植被覆盖对洞穴参数有显著影响（OLS，），这表明洞穴参数与栖息地特征之间存在很强的关联。该研究的结果还表明，海拔、高速公路和人类聚居集中点等其他因素可能在定义洞穴空间聚集方面发挥主要作用，进而对栖息地选择产生重大影响。
