Investigating the effects of livestock entry on ecological niche changes of the Persian Gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa subgutturosa) (Case study: Qaraviz no hunting area, Kermanshah)

Persian Gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa subgutturosa) has been distributed in 14 countries. Among these countries, at least in 12 ones the presence of livestock has been mentioned as a factor of Gazelles habitat destruction. Qaraviz no hunting area in Kermanshah province, with the structure of hill and rising ground, is one of the best Persian Gazelle habitats in the west of Iran. The most important obstacle in this regard is entry of livestock of villagers and nomads into its habitat. The aim of this study is to compare the ecological niche of livestock (sheep and goat) and Persian Gazelle in autumn and winter.
In order to model the Gazelle habitat, the presence of point the species and 12 environmental factors of slope, aspect, altitude, vegetation density index (NDVI), type of vegetation, distance from the river, distance from the road, distance from the areas of human activity, distance from the village, distance from the border stations, distance from the presence of livestock, and distance from spring and trough were used. Moreover, to model the habitat of the livestocks in the region, the presence point of livestock and 9 environmental factors of slope, direction, height, vegetation density index (NDVI), type of vegetation, distance from the river, distance from spring and trough and distance from the presence point of Gazelles were used. Modeling was carried out by ecological niche factor analyzing method performed in Biomapper software.
Findings: Gazelles and livestock in both seasons tended to the low-vegetation density and south direction. Gazelles in both seasons tended to the vegetation types of Poa bulbosa-Annual grass, while the livestock in the region in autumn and winter, tended to the vegetation types of Astragalus spp.-Amygdalus scoparia - Salsola rigida and Poa bulbosa-Annual grass, respectively. Pearson correlation coefficient showed that there is a correlation (P-Value Based on the results, marginality of ecological niche of Gazelles narrows from autumn (1.05) to winter (1.48), whereas the ecological niche of the livestocks widens from autumn (0.927) to winter (0.836). The results show that pressure from the entry of livestock of villagers and nomads has been effective on narrowing the Gazelles’ ecological niche.