Kaboodvandpour Shahram, Almasieh Kamran, Zamani Navid
Department of Environmental Sciences Faculty of Natural Resources University of Kurdistan Sanandaj Iran.
Department of Zrebar Lake Environmental Research Kurdistan Studies Institute University of Kurdistan Sanandaj Iran.
Ecol Evol. 2021 Aug 30;11(19):13464-13474. doi: 10.1002/ece3.8069. eCollection 2021 Oct.
Habitat fragmentation has major negative impacts on wildlife populations, and the connectivity could reduce these negative impacts. This study was conducted to assess habitat suitability and structural connectivity of the Persian leopard along the Iran-Iraq border (i.e., the Zagros Mountains) and compare the situation of identified core habitats and connectivity with existing conservation areas (CAs). An ensemble modeling approach resulting from five models was used to predict habitat suitability. To identify core habitats and corridors along the Iran-Iraq border, factorial least-cost path analyses were applied. The results revealed that topographic roughness, distance to CAs, annual precipitation, vegetation/cropland density, and distance to rivers were the most influential variables for predicting the occurrence of the Persian leopard in the study area. By an estimated dispersal distance of 82 km (suggested by previous studies), three core habitats were identified (two cores in Iran and one core in Iraq). The largest cores were located in the south and the center of the study area, which had the highest connectivity priorities. The connectivity from these cores was maintained to the core within the Iraqi side. Only about one-fifth of detected core habitats and relative corridors were protected by CAs in the study area. Detected core habitats and connectivity areas in this study could be an appropriate road map to accomplish the CAs network along the Iran-Iraq border regarding Persian leopard conservation. Establishing transboundary CAs, particularly in the core habitat located in the center of the study area, is strongly recommended to conserve existing large carnivores, including the Persian leopard.
栖息地破碎化对野生动物种群有重大负面影响，而连通性可以减少这些负面影响。本研究旨在评估伊朗 - 伊拉克边境（即扎格罗斯山脉）沿线波斯豹的栖息地适宜性和结构连通性，并将已确定的核心栖息地和连通性情况与现有保护区（CAs）进行比较。采用由五个模型组成的集成建模方法来预测栖息地适宜性。为了确定伊朗 - 伊拉克边境沿线的核心栖息地和走廊，应用了因子最小成本路径分析。结果表明，地形粗糙度、到保护区的距离、年降水量、植被/农田密度以及到河流的距离是预测研究区域内波斯豹出现的最具影响力的变量。根据先前研究建议的估计扩散距离82公里，确定了三个核心栖息地（两个在伊朗，一个在伊拉克）。最大的核心栖息地位于研究区域的南部和中部，具有最高的连通性优先级。这些核心栖息地与伊拉克一侧的核心栖息地保持着连通性。在研究区域内，只有约五分之一的已检测到的核心栖息地和相关走廊受到保护区的保护。本研究中检测到的核心栖息地和连通区域可以作为在伊朗 - 伊拉克边境建立关于波斯豹保护的保护区网络的合适路线图。强烈建议建立跨界保护区，特别是在研究区域中心的核心栖息地，以保护包括波斯豹在内的现有大型食肉动物。
