Predicting the potential habitat of bears under a changing climate in Nepal.

ABSTRACT: In Nepal, the distributions of three bear species vary: sloth bears (Melursus ursinus) in the lowlands, Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) in the mid-hills, and brown bears (Ursus arctos) in the high Himalayas. We utilized 179 occurrence points for sloth bears, 199 for Asiatic black bears, and 41 points for brown bears to construct a habitat model incorporating climate and topographic variables. Employing various species distribution modeling algorithms in BIOMOD2, the model predicts suitable habitats spanning 10,971.75 km² for sloth bears; 29,470.75 km² for Asiatic black bears; and 6152.97 km² for brown bears. Within protected areas, the habitat for sloth bears is 4120.56 km², that for Asiatic black bears is 9688.67 km², and that

SUBMITTER: Baral R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11549196 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature