Lowland tapir distribution and habitat loss in South America.
The development of species distribution models (SDMs) can help conservation efforts by generating potential distributions and identifying areas of high environmental suitability for protection. Our study presents a distribution and habitat map for lowland tapir in South America. We also describe the potential habitat suitability of various geographical regions and habitat loss, inside and outside of protected areas network. Two different SDM approaches, MAXENT and ENFA, produced relative different Habitat Suitability Maps for the lowland tapir. While MAXENT was efficient at identifying areas as suitable or unsuitable, it was less efficient (when compared to the results by ENFA) at identifying the gradient of habitat suitability. MAXENT is a more multifaceted technique that establishes more complex relationships between dependent and independent variables. Our results demonstrate that for at least one species, the lowland tapir, the use of a simple consensual approach (average of ENFA and MAXENT models outputs) better reflected its current distribution patterns. The Brazilian ecoregions have the highest habitat loss for the tapir. Cerrado and Atlantic Forest account for nearly half (48.19%) of the total area lost. The Amazon region contains the largest area under protection, and the most extensive remaining habitat for the tapir, but also showed high levels of habitat loss outside protected areas, which increases the importance of support for proper management.
Fiocruz Mata Atlântica, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz) , Rio de Janeiro , Brasil.
Jose Luis Passos
JL
Cordeiro
Department of Biology, Stanford University , Stanford , CA , United States.
José M V
JM
Fragoso
Fiocruz Mata Atlântica, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz) , Rio de Janeiro , Brasil.
Danielle
D
Crawshaw
Museu Nacional, Departamento de Vertebrados, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro , Rio de Janeiro , Brasil.
Luiz Flamarion B
LF
Oliveira
Conservation planning; ENFA; MAXENT; Protected areas; Species distribution models; Tapirus terrestris
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