Habitat suitability of Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor) using Maximum Entropy Method in Golestan National Park and Biosphere Reserve.

In the current century, the destruction and separation of the habitat has had significant ecological effects on wildlife species, particularly species that are under threat. In the meantime, the leopard has been classified as endangered (EN) species by the International Convention for the Protection of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). Golestan National Park, as the first national park in Iran, is divided by the Gorgan-Bojnourd road, practically into the northern and southern divisions, which has had a profound effect on the desirability of the carnivorous habitat, especially the panther. Therefore, recognizing the factors affecting the usefulness of the Leophor's habitat as a useful tool in managing and protecting the remaining habitats in Golestan National Park can help conservation managers in this effective management. In this research, for optimizing the leopard habitat model, the maximum entropy approach was utilized using 15 habitat variables and 77 species points. Eventually, after using the Maxent model, the potentiality of the Iranian leopard habitat was predicted in Golestan National Park. The obtained AUC is 0.9, which indicates the high predictive power of the model. The results of the jacknife test show that the distribution of the leopard in Golestan National Park is primarily influenced by the distribution of prey, including wild boar, wild goat, wild sheep and red deer, and then to other environmental variables including altitudes of 500 to 1000 m, distance to water resources and roads, it is dependent.