Distribution modeling and evaluation of the habitat integrity of Testudo graeca zarudnyi (Testudines: Testudinidae) in Central and Southeastern Iran
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22120/jwb.2020.135761.1179Keywords:
MaxEnt modeling approach, Tortoise, SDM, Kerman and Yazd provincesAbstract
One of the initial measures to planning the conservation strategies is knowing the ecological needs of a species and its favorite habitat. Species Distribution Modeling (SDM) is an applicable tool to achieve this goal. Zarudny's spur-thighed tortoise or Iranian tortoise (Testudo graeca zarudnyi) is one of three subspecies of spur-thighed tortoises found in Iran. To assess the conflicts threatening the habitat of this subspecies, the Maximum Entropy Algorithm (MaxEnt) was used. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the integrity of the T. g. zarudnyi habitat and discuss the conflicts threatening the suitable habitat of this taxon in Iran. First, 25 ecological variables were considered to evaluate the habitat suitability, including topographic, land use land cover, and climatic layers (19 Bios). Among climatic variables, only five of them were selected using Pearson correlation analysis at the level of 75%. Finally, 11 variables contributed to running the model. The cell size were set based on Bios cell sizes to prevent biases, only one presence point kept at each cell; therefore, 108 presence points were remained out of 137 occurrence data. The obtained model had a high degree of predictability (AUC= 0.911). Results showed that Zarudny's tortoise favorites good to moderate vegetation structure. Hence, areas with higher vegetation cover and an annual average temperature of 20°C are optimal, which emphasizes the importance of landuse changes in both the range dynamics and the conservation of this subspecies in Iran. Considering the overlap of the protected areas with the suitable habitat of Zarudny's tortoise revealed that insufficient amounts of suitable habitat are protected. Hence, considering the vulnerable conservation status of Iranian tortoise, the importance of establishing more protected areas through the suitable habitat of his taxon is emphasized.
References
Anadón, J. D., Giménez, A., Graciá, E., Pérez, I., Ferrández, M., Fahd, S., Mouden, El., Kalboussi, H., Jdeidi, T., Larbes, S. & Rouag, R. (2012). Distribution of Testudo graeca in the western Mediterranean according to climatic factors. Amphibia-Reptilia, 33(2), 285-296. Doi: 10.1163/156853812X643710
Anderson, S. C. (1979). Synopsis of the turtles, crocodiles, and amphisbaenians of Iran. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, ser. 4., 41(22), 501-528.
Daneshvar, M. R. M., Ebrahimi, M. & Nejadsoleymani, H. (2019). An overview of climate change in Iran: facts and statistics. Environmental Systems Research, 8(1), 7. Doi: 10.1186/s40068-019-0135-3
Duan, R. Y., Kong, X. Q., Huang, M. Y., Fan, W. Y. & Wang, Z. G. (2014). The predictive performance and stability of six species distribution models. PloS one, 9(11), e112764. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0112764
Graciá, E., Rodríguez-Caro, R. C., Andreu, A. C., Fritz, U., Giménez, A. & Botella, F. (2017). Human-mediated secondary contact of two tortoise lineages results in sex-biased introgression. Scientific reports, 7(1), 4019. Doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-04208-4
Javanbakht, H., Ihlow, F., Jablonski, D., Široký, P., Fritz, U., Rödder, D., Sharifi, M. & Mikulíček, P. (2017). Genetic diversity and Quaternary range dynamics in Iranian and Transcaucasian tortoises. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 121(3), 627-640. Doi: 10.1093/biolinnean/blx001
Jordán, F., Báldi, A., Orci, K. M., Racz, I. & Varga, Z. (2003). Characterizing the importance of habitat patches and corridors in maintaining the landscape connectivity of a Pholidoptera transsylvanica (Orthoptera) metapopulation. Landscape Ecology, 18(1), 83-92. Doi: 10.1023/A:1022958003528
Kallimanis, A. S. (2010). Temperature dependent sex determination and climate change. Oikos, 119(1), 197-200. Doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.16.7487
Kamali, K. (2013). A Field Guide for Reptiles and Amphibians of Iran, Tehran: Iranshenasi Press [In Persian].
Lovich, J. E., Ennen, J. R., Agha, M. & Gibbons, J. W. (2018). Where have all the turtles gone, and why does it matter?. Bioscience, 68(10), 771-781. Doi: 10.1093/biosci/biy095
Mashkaryan, V., Vamberger, M., Arakelyan, M., Hezaveh, N., Carreterom, M. A., Corti, C. & Fritz, U. (2013). Gene Flow Among Deeply Divergent mtDNA Lineages of Testudo graeca (Linnaeus, 1758) in Transcaucasia. Amphibia-Reptilia, 34, 337-351. Doi: 0.1163/15685381-00002895
Mitchell, N. J. & Janzen, F. J. (2010). Temperature-dependent sex determination and contemporary climate change. Sexual Development, 4(1-2), 129-140. Doi: 10.1159/000282494
Nasab, H. V., Clark, G. A. & Torkamandi, S. (2013). Late Pleistocene dispersal corridors across the Iranian Plateau: a case study from Mirak, a Middle Paleolithic site on the northern edge of the Iranian Central Desert (Dasht-e Kavir). Quaternary International, 300, 267-281. Doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2012.11.028
Neuwald, J. L. & Valenzuela, N. (2011). The lesser known challenge of climate change: thermal variance and sex-reversal in vertebrates with temperature-dependent sex determination. PLoS one, 6(3), e18117. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0018117
Parham, J. F., Stuart, B. L., Danilov, I. G. & Ananjeva, N. B. (2012). A genetic characterization of CITES-listed Iranian tortoises (Testudo graeca) through the sequencing of topotypic samples and a 19th century holotype. Herpetological Journal, 22(2), 73-78.
Phillips, S. J., Anderson, R. P. & Schapire, R. E. (2006). Maximum entropy modeling of species geographic distributions. Ecological modelling, 190(3-4), 231-259. Doi: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2005.03.026
Qin, A., Liu, B., Guo, Q., Bussmann, R. W., Ma, F., Jian, Z. & Pei, S. (2017). MaxEnt modeling for predicting impacts of climate change on the potential distribution of Thuja sutchuenensis Franch., an extremely endangered conifer from southwestern China. Global Ecology and Conservation, 10, 139-146. Doi: 10.1016/j.gecco.2017.02.004
Rezazadeh, E., Alucheh, R. M. & Kami, H. G. (2014). A preliminary study on the Mediterranean spur-thighed tortoise Testudo graeca Linnaeus, 1758 from northwestern Iran. Herpetology Notes, 7, 127-133.
Rhodin, A. G., Stanford, C. B., Van Dijk, P. P., Eisemberg, C., Luiselli, L., Mittermeier, R. A., Hudson, R., Horne, B. D., Goode, E. V., Kuchling, G. & Walde, A. (2018). Global conservation status of turtles and tortoises (order Testudines). Chelonian Conservation and Biology, 17(2), 135-161. Doi: 10.2744/CCB-1348.1
Rhodin, A. G. J., Iverson, J. B., Bour, R., Fritz, U., Georges, A., Shaffer, H. B. & Van Dijk P. P. (2017). Turtles of the world: annotated checklist and atlas of taxonomy, synonymy, distribution, and conservation status. Chelonian Research Monographs, 7, 1-292. Doi: 10.3854/crm.7.checklist.atlas.v8.2017
Schlaepfer, D. R., Braschler, B., Rusterholz, H. P. & Baur, B. (2018). Genetic effects of anthropogenic habitat fragmentation on remnant animal and plant populations: a meta‐analysis. Ecosphere, 9(10), e02488. Doi: 10.1002/ecs2.2488
Waterson, A. M., Schmidt, D. N., Valdes, P. J., Holroyd, P. A., Nicholson, D. B., Farnsworth, A. & Barrett, P. M. (2016). Modelling the climatic niche of turtles: a deep-time perspective. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 283(1839), 1-9. Doi: 10.1098/rspb.2016.1408
Yousefi, M., Ahmadi, M., Nourani, E., Behrooz, R., Rajabizadeh, M., Geniez, P. & Kaboli, M. (2015). Upward altitudinal shifts in habitat suitability of mountain vipers since the last glacial maximum. PloS one, 10(9), 1-14. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0138087
Yousefi, M., Kafash, A., Valizadegan, N., Ilanloo, S. S., Rajabizadeh, M., Malekoutikhah, S. & Ashrafi, S. (2019). Climate Change is a Major Problem for Biodiversity Conservation: A Systematic Review of Recent Studies in Iran. Contemporary Problems of Ecology, 12(4), 394-403. Doi: 10.1134/S1995425519040127
Zadhoush, B. & Isailović, J. C. (2016). A Preliminary Report on Conservation Status of Testudo graeca zarudnyi in Iran (Country-Scale Assessment). TFTSG. [Unpublished].
JWB applies the 