Range-wide assessment of habitat suitability for jaguars using multiscale species distribution modelling.

ABSTRACT: Jaguars (Panthera onca) are highly sensitive to persecution, habitat loss, and fragmentation, making the identification of suitable habitat critical for conservation planning. Using GPS telemetry data from 172 individuals across eight countries - the largest jaguar dataset to date - we developed multiscale Resource Selection Functions (RSFs) incorporating 15 environmental covariates to model habitat suitability across the species' historic range. Jaguars selected productive habitats near water and strongly avoided human-modified landscapes, including areas with high human population density and livestock presence. The resulting habitat suitability surface showed strong predictive performance (AUC = 0.88; Boyce Index = 0.91) and correlated with known density estimates and distribution model

SUBMITTER: Alvarenga GC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12780236 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature