Habitat suitability assessment of Chinese pangolins(Manis pentadactyla)in Taishun County
It was aimed to develop a prediction model for the potential distribution of Chinese pangolins in Taishun County,evaluate the prediction accuracy of the model,identify the key environmental factors affecting the distribution of Chinese pangolins,and predict the potential suitable distribution area of Chinese pangolins in Taishun County.The maximum entropy model(MaxEnt)was used to establish prediction model for the po-tential distribution of Chinese pangolins.The prediction accuracy of AUC was used to analyze the contribution rate and importance ranking of environmental variables,identify the key influencing factors,analyze the habi-tat preference of Chinese pangolins based on the response curve,and determine the potential distribution in Taishun County according to the prediction results of MaxEnt model suitable distribution area.The AUC value of the training set was 0.838,and the model prediction results reached the standard of"good"with high relia-bility.Slope,distance from roads and distance from settlements were summarized as the top three key factors affecting the distribution of Chinese pangolins,with a cumulative contribution rate of 84.8%.The most suit-able habitat conditions for Chinese pangolins were concluded as:elevation less than 600 m,distance from set-tlements and roads more than 100 m,distance from water source between 100 and 800 m,slope greater than 30°,south slope and southwest slope direction.The total suitable distribution area of Chinese pangolins in Taishun County was about 459.5 km2,accounting for 28.5%of the county area.Chinese pangolins preferred relatively closed habitat away from human disturbance,specifically evergreen broad-leaved forest or mixed for-est with gentle terrain at lower elevation and without human disturbance.The relavant findings could provide a scientific basis for the conservation and management of the Chinese pangolins,such as giving priority to the protection of suitable areas and limiting the interference of human activities.It was suggested also that further monitoring of the population dynamics of the pangolins should be carried out to understand its actual distribu-tion and take targeted measures for protection.
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
