Abstract: Musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster) is considered Endangered by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and is under Schedule-I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, because of its illicit hunting for musk as well as habitat loss. The present study aims to analyze the present distribution pattern of Musk Deer in the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand. Precipitation of the driest month (Bio14), mean temperature of warmest quarter (Bio10), annual mean temperature ( Bio1) and land use land cover were the major contributing variables to the model with area under Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve being 0.924. Using the Global Climate Models (GCM) MaxEnt and MIROC6, we projected the distribution of the endangered Musk Deer in the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand for the years 2021-2040, 2041-2060, 2061-2080, and 2081-2100. Future climate change will either widen, narrow, or shift the climatic niche of many species, which may cause those species' geographic ranges to change. Overall, the shift of habitat shows a latitudinal pattern.
Keywords: Musk Deer, Species Distribution Modelling (SDM), MaxEnt, Uttarakhand, Bioclimatic variables.
Title: SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODELING OF MUSK DEER USING REMOTE SENSING AND G.I.S, UTTARAKHAND
Author: Arushi Lohani, Dr. Suneet Naithani, Dr. G. Areendran, Sunny Joshi
International Journal of Life Sciences Research
ISSN 2348-313X (Print), ISSN 2348-3148 (online)
Vol. 10, Issue 4, October 2022 - December 2022
Page No: 47-56
Research Publish Journals
Website: www.researchpublish.com
Published Date: 18-November-2022
