Modeling the Spatial Distribution of Plateau Pika (Ochotona curzoniae) in the Qinghai Lake Basin, China.

ABSTRACT: The plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) is a keystone species in the alpine rangeland ecosystem of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Most previous studies of habitat selection by plateau pika have been conducted at a local microhabitat scale; however, little is known about the relationship between the distribution of plateau pika and macrohabitat factors at broad spatial scales. Using a presence-only ecological niche model (maximum entropy, Maxent), we predicted the distribution of plateau pika in the Qinghai Lake basin based on a set of environmental and anthropogenic variables at 1-km spatial resolution, and identified key macrohabitat factors that contribute to the predictive performance. Our results showed suitable area for plateau pika in the Qinghai Lake basin being approximately 3982 km2,

SUBMITTER: Wu YN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6827031 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature