Habitat Suitability Modeling for Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) in Eastern Alamut, Qazvin Province

Wild boar is distributed throughout Iran except highly arid areas. In recent years, however, population size of wild boar has increased primarily because of reduction in population size of natural predators such as leopard. Conversely, changes in land-use practices and increase in foraging of livestock in natural habitats has led to reduction of food resources and consequently, has forced the species to graze on plants, grown in agricultural fields. This has resulted in conflicts between conservation of wild boar and preservation of interest of local people. In this research, ecological niche factor analysis was used to develop habitat suitability model for wild boar in eastern Alamut hunting prohibited area and to determine factors, in particular, anthropogenic factors affecting species distribution. Results indicated that wild boar showed a tendency of moving towards villages, agricultural fields, river banks and areas of lower altitude. Forty villages were located inside or near the suitable habitat, as predicted by the model, of which 27% consisted of agricultural fields. This suggested a high conflict between wild boar habitats and interest of local people. To improve conservation status of eastern Alamut, it is important to reduce the conflict between wild boar and local population through management plans.