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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Ecol. Evol.
Sec. Biogeography and Macroecology
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fevo.2024.1477480

Species distribution modelling and landscape connectivity as tools to inform management and conservation for the critically endangered Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus) in Pakistan's Deosai National Park

Provisionally accepted
Tosif Fida Tosif Fida 1Alireza Mohammadi Alireza Mohammadi 2Kamran Almasieh Kamran Almasieh 3Luciano Bosso Luciano Bosso 4*Shams Ud Din Shams Ud Din 1Urwah Shamas Urwah Shamas 1Muhammad Ali Nawaz Muhammad Ali Nawaz 3Dr. Muhammad Kabir Dr. Muhammad Kabir 1
  • 1 The University of Haripur, Haripur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
  • 2 University of Jiroft, Jiroft, Kerman, Iran
  • 3 Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
  • 4 National Research Council (CNR), Roma, Lazio, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The main cause of the global threat to large carnivore populations living in high-altitude areas is human pressure. The Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus, hereafter bear) is listed as a critically endangered species, and it dominates the higher altitudes of the North and Western Himalayan landscape.Here, we used species distribution modelling and landscape connectivity to find bears' suitable habitats and corridors in the Deosai National Park (DNP) and surrounding areas.Species distribution models detected a bear's suitable habitat of 1,125 km 2 , of which ca. 73% was covered by DNP. The most crucial predictors in determining the bears' distribution were elevation-particularly if it was between 3,500 and 4,500 meters above sea level-as well as the bears' distance from rivers, cattle, and the DNP borders. We discovered robust connectivity among presence points in the core of the study area, particularly within the DNP boundaries, by using the electrical circuit theory models. Landscape connectivity values were indeed low in some areas outside and close to the DNP confines.Based on our findings, it is imperative to protect habitats and corridors that allow the bears to migrate between the suitable patches, particularly beyond the park's boundaries, to improve bear conservation.

    Keywords: conservation, Himalayan brown bear, Landscape connectivity, species distribution models, Wildlife management

    Received: 07 Aug 2024; Accepted: 12 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Fida, Mohammadi, Almasieh, Bosso, Ud Din, Shamas, Nawaz and Kabir. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Luciano Bosso, National Research Council (CNR), Roma, 00185, Lazio, Italy

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