Identifying Migratory Corridors for Wild Sheep (Ovis orientalis isphahanica) among Protected Areas in West and North West of Isfahan Province

Conservation and management of wildlife populations in Iran have mostly relied on protection of areas where the species of interest occurs, and little effort has been allocated to ensuring connectivity between appropriate habitat patches to support seasonal movements. In Iran several ungulate and carnivore species of high conservation move between protected areas due to seasonally unsuitable habitat conditions and in some cases for mating. Loss of habitat corridors and increasing isolation of the populations will have serious impacts on the survival of these species that originally operating at large scales. Hence protecting and incorporating of the remaining suitable migration corridors into the existing protected areas network of Iran is an urgent need in order to secure the survival of the valuable migratory species in future. In the present study, we identified and evaluated migration corridors for Isfahan wild sheep (Ovis orientalis isphahanica) between Ghamishloo National Park and Wildlife Refuge, Dalankouh Protected area and Palang Galoun Hunting Prohibited area in West and North West of Isfahan province. For this purpose, we first produced the suitability maps using Habitat Suitability Index Model (HSI) and then will use them as main inputs for two connectivity models, Least-cost modeling (LCM) and circuit theory. The results of these connectivity models could provide useful information, guiding toward an effective conservation planning for these migratory species in Isfahan province

کلیدواژه ها:

Wildlife corridor ، Landscape permeability ، HSI ، Ghamishloo Wildlife Refuge ، Dalankouh Protected area