Modelling the nesting-habitat of threatened vulture species in the caucasus:An ecosystem approach to formalising environmental factors in species distribution models

作     者：Rustam Pshegusov Victoria Chadaeva Rustam Pshegusov;Victoria Chadaeva

作者机构：Tembotov Institute of Ecology of Mountain Territories of Russian Academy of ScienceI.Armand Str.37а360051NalchikRussia 

出 版 物：《Avian Research》 (鸟类学研究（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2023年第14卷第4期

页      面：572-585页

核心收录：

学科分类：07[理学] 0713[理学-生态学] 

基　　金：the State Assignment,project 075-00347-19-00(Patterns of the spatiotemporal dynamics of meadow and forest ecosystems in mountainous areas(Russian Western and Central Caucasus) WWF's‘Save the Forest-Home of Raptors’project(2020-2022) 

主　　题：Caucasian vultures Ecological niche differentiation Maxent Nesting sites Species distribution models 

摘      要：Abiotic factors play an important role in species localisation,but biotic and anthropogenic predictors must also be considered in distribution modelling for models to be biologically *** this study,we formalised the biotic predictors of nesting sites for four threatened Caucasian vultures by including species distribution models(wild ungulates,nesting tree species)as biotic layers in the vulture Maxent *** was applied in the R dismo package and the best set of the model parameters were defined in the R ENMeval *** metrics were continuous Boyce index,Akaike s information criterion,the area under receiver operating curve and true skill *** also calculated and evaluated the null *** density estimation method was applied to assess the overlap of vulture ecological niches in the environmental *** accessibility of anthropogenic food resources was estimated using the Path Distance measure that considers elevation *** availability of pine forests(Scots Pine)and wild ungulates(Alpine Chamois and Caucasian Goat)contributed the most(29.6%and 34.3%)to Cinereous Vulture(Aegypius monachus)nesting site *** ungulate distribution also contributed significantly(about 46%)to the Bearded Vulture(Gypaetus barbatus)*** scavenger nests in the highlands of the Caucasus at a minimum distance of 5–10 km from anthropogenic *** contrast,livestock as a food source was most important in colony distribution of Griffon Vulture(Gyps fulvus).The contribution of distances to settlements and agricultural facilities to the model was 45%.The optimal distance from Egyptian Vulture(Neophron percnopterus)nesting sites to settlements was only 3–10 km,to livestock facilities no more than 15 km with the factor contribution of about 57%.Excluding the wild ungulate availability,the ecological niches of studied vultures overlapped *** similar foraging and nesting requirements,Caucasian vultures are no