Habitat Evaluation of Alectoris Chukar using Ecological Niche Factor Analysis (ENFA) (Case study: Eshkevarte NO-Hunting Area)

Most of Iran's vertebrates are birds that are distributed in vast parts of the country like deserts, forests, coastal areas, islands, lakes and other habitats. Eshkevarat No-hunting area in Guilan Province is one of the suitable habitats for Alectoris chukar which harbors a good population of the species. The mountainous and hilly habitats of the area dotted with rocks provide a good condition for a large number of Alectoris chukar. In order to model the habitat suitability of the species, we used ecological niche factor analysis (ENFA) in Biomapper software. The presence of species was used as the dependent variable and the environmental variables (slope, aspect classes, altitude classes, water sources, residential area and roads) as the independent variables. Habitat suitability maps prepared in this study for Alectoris chukar show that the favorable habitat for this species are located in the Eshkevarat No-hunting area in an altitude between 1700 and 2800 meters and on slopes greater than 40 percent. The mountains, Sorkheh Tale Lima, Ghazi Chak and Delijan are habitats with high frequently of Alectoris chukar presence. The most important variables were found to be slope and aspect.