Habitat selection for translocation of Iranian cave barb (Iranocypris typhlops)

Iranian cave barb (Iranocypris typhlops, Bruun and Kaiser, 1944)is one of thevery rareandendemicspeciesof Iran. Its distributionrangeislimitedina habitat that causes some problems for its conservation. Thisuniquehabitatfaces somenatural and humanthreatsand the habitatdestructionmeansthe extinctionof the species. Based on, habitat selection for translocation of the species is an important objective. Hence,Analytic Network Process (ANP) was used toprioritizehabitats for translocation. Environmental factors(includingphysical and chemical parametersof waterand the plankton density) and human factors(including management, local peopleandtourists) were used. Euclidian distancesimilarity coefficient for environmental parametersandpairedcomparisons for the humanfactors was used. The resultsshowed thatZarianabad cave in Khorram-abadcity has highestpriority for. The cavealso has thepotential toattract touristsinthe area. Althoughthe goal of the translocation is the species conservation but also it can develop of tourismin the area. Tourism development can improve theeconomic situationof local peoplein the area, which could bean importantincentiveforlocal peoplesforthe speciesconservation. The resultsof this studycanbe guidance for wildlife managers for the species translocation.