Prediction of Climate change impact on sand cat habitat suitability

Awareness of climate change impacts on suitable habitats of wildlife species is a prerequisite for long-term management of wildlife populations. In this research, we applied maxent approach to investigate the consequences of climate change on climatic habitat suitability for sand cat (Felis margarita) for present, the best, and the worst greenhouse gas emission scenarios for 2050 and 2070, throughout the country.  Modeling results indicated that nearly 18 percent of area of the country is currently suitable for the sand cat. However, only 15 percent of suitable habitats are conserved inside the protected area network. Sand cat avoids areas with high annual precipitation and prefers areas with high mean annual temperature. Under influence of climate change in lowest emission scenario in 2070, the area of suitable habitats and conserved habitats increases. In other scenarios, there are negligible decrease of suitable habitats. Therefore, it could be concluded that sand cat is the winner of climate change.