Identifying priority core habitats and corridors for effective conservation of brown bears in Iran

Abstract 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 suitabi...

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Autores principales:	A. Mohammadi, K. Almasieh, D. Nayeri, F. Ataei, A. Khani, J. V. López-Bao, V. Penteriani, S. A. Cushman
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/a81f9bd0644c4de9814b2d3b85c8b957
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:a81f9bd0644c4de9814b2d3b85c8b9572021-12-02T15:23:10ZIdentifying priority core habitats and corridors for effective conservation of brown bears in Iran10.1038/s41598-020-79970-z2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/a81f9bd0644c4de9814b2d3b85c8b9572021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-79970-zhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract 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.A. MohammadiK. AlmasiehD. NayeriF. AtaeiA. KhaniJ. V. López-BaoV. PenterianiS. A. CushmanNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-13 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q A. Mohammadi K. Almasieh D. Nayeri F. Ataei A. Khani J. V. López-Bao V. Penteriani S. A. Cushman Identifying priority core habitats and corridors for effective conservation of brown bears in Iran
description	Abstract 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.
format	article
author	A. Mohammadi K. Almasieh D. Nayeri F. Ataei A. Khani J. V. López-Bao V. Penteriani S. A. Cushman
author_facet	A. Mohammadi K. Almasieh D. Nayeri F. Ataei A. Khani J. V. López-Bao V. Penteriani S. A. Cushman
author_sort	A. Mohammadi
title	Identifying priority core habitats and corridors for effective conservation of brown bears in Iran
title_short	Identifying priority core habitats and corridors for effective conservation of brown bears in Iran
title_full	Identifying priority core habitats and corridors for effective conservation of brown bears in Iran
title_fullStr	Identifying priority core habitats and corridors for effective conservation of brown bears in Iran
title_full_unstemmed	Identifying priority core habitats and corridors for effective conservation of brown bears in Iran
title_sort	identifying priority core habitats and corridors for effective conservation of brown bears in iran
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/a81f9bd0644c4de9814b2d3b85c8b957
work_keys_str_mv	AT amohammadi identifyingprioritycorehabitatsandcorridorsforeffectiveconservationofbrownbearsiniran AT kalmasieh identifyingprioritycorehabitatsandcorridorsforeffectiveconservationofbrownbearsiniran AT dnayeri identifyingprioritycorehabitatsandcorridorsforeffectiveconservationofbrownbearsiniran AT fataei identifyingprioritycorehabitatsandcorridorsforeffectiveconservationofbrownbearsiniran AT akhani identifyingprioritycorehabitatsandcorridorsforeffectiveconservationofbrownbearsiniran AT jvlopezbao identifyingprioritycorehabitatsandcorridorsforeffectiveconservationofbrownbearsiniran AT vpenteriani identifyingprioritycorehabitatsandcorridorsforeffectiveconservationofbrownbearsiniran AT sacushman identifyingprioritycorehabitatsandcorridorsforeffectiveconservationofbrownbearsiniran
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Identifying priority core habitats and corridors for effective conservation of brown bears in Iran

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