Habitat distribution models for pygmy rabbits in Idaho

Environmental relationships can differ across the geographic range of species, especially for widespread generalists.  Because habitat specialists are more vulnerable to environmental changes, incorrect assumptions about consistent habitat associations could hinder strategic conservation efforts.  We used species distribution models (SDMs) to evaluate intraspecific variation in habitat associations for a habitat specialist of conservation concern, the pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis), which is endemic to the sagebrush biome of the western USA.  Our goal was to model habitat associations for pygmy rabbits across a portion of their range to evaluate regional variation and contrast predictions with results from a model developed at the rangewide extent.  We created inductive SDMs using maximum entropy methods within five ecological regions that encompassed about 20% of the species rangewide distribution and spanned diverse environmental gradients.  We included a suite of environmental..., Study area
Our study focused on the distribution of pygmy rabbits in Idaho, USA, in the central portion of the species’ geographic range. We defined five ecologically based regions occupied by pygmy rabbits across southern Idaho for development of region-specific SDMs (Fig. 1). To delineate the regional extents, we first examined the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) fine-scale habitat management polygons for the greater sage-grouse, which reflect hydrologic units, topographic features, vegetation communities, barriers to sage-grouse movements based on telemetry data, and expert knowledge (Stiver et al. 2015). We overlaid known occurrences of pygmy rabbits and then combined adjacent fine-scale polygons to create five regions that encompassed separate areas occupied by pygmy rabbits (Regions: 1 - Owyhee Desert, 2 - Southern Desert, 3 - Central Desert, 4 - Bear Lake, and 5 - Lemhi-Salmon). The boundary between adjacent Regions 1 and 2 was defined by the Bruneau River Canyon, which is a prom..., The data products are raster files that can be opened with GIS-capable software (e.g., Esri ArcGIS, QGIS, R).

物种的环境关联模式在其地理分布范围内可能存在差异，对于广布性广食性物种而言尤其如此。由于生境特化物种对环境变化更为敏感，若错误假设生境关联具有一致性，可能会阻碍针对性的保护工作开展。本研究采用物种分布模型（Species Distribution Models, SDMs），针对受保护关注的生境特化物种——美国西部灌丛草原生物群系特有种侏儒兔（*Brachylagus idahoensis*），评估其种内生境关联的变异情况。本研究的目标是针对侏儒兔部分分布区域构建生境关联模型，以评估区域生境变异情况，并将区域模型的预测结果与全分布范围模型的结果进行对比。我们在覆盖该物种约20%全分布范围、涵盖多样环境梯度的5个生态区域内，采用最大熵方法构建归纳式物种分布模型。本研究纳入了一系列环境因子……【研究区域】本研究聚焦于美国爱达荷州境内（该物种地理分布的中部区域）的侏儒兔分布情况。我们基于爱达荷州南部侏儒兔的栖息区域，划定了5个生态相关区域，用于构建区域专属的物种分布模型（图1）。为划定各区域范围，我们首先参考了美国土地管理局（Bureau of Land Management, BLM）针对大艾草松鸡制定的精细尺度生境管理多边形图层，该图层综合了水文单元、地形特征、植被群落、基于遥测数据得到的艾草松鸡移动障碍以及专家经验（Stiver等，2015）。我们叠加已知的侏儒兔出现记录后，将相邻的精细尺度多边形进行合并，最终划定了5个分别覆盖侏儒兔栖息区域的分区（分区1：奥怀希荒漠；分区2：南部荒漠；分区3：中部荒漠；分区4：熊湖；分区5：莱姆希-萨蒙）。相邻分区1与分区2的边界由布鲁诺河峡谷界定，该峡谷为一处……本研究的数据产品为栅格文件，可通过支持地理信息系统（GIS）的软件（如Esri ArcGIS、QGIS、R）打开。