Determining Suitable Habitats for Roe Deer (Capreolus Capreolus) in North of Iran Using Ensemble Approach

Species distribution model is important to protect and to manage the roe deer as an elusive and national protected herbivore species in Iran. In this study habitat modeling was carried out via Biomod2 package in R software environment using 91 presence points of the spices as well as environmental and human factors. Ensemble model of habitat suitability was prepared based on six species distribution model algorithms for a study area of 74000 km2. AUC for ensemble model was 0.97 which showed an excellent performance. Suitable habitat for roe deer covered an area about 15 percent of the studied area. Also, the results showed that altitude (29%) and land-use (29%) then, maximum temperature in the warmest month and slope variables were the most influential factors on species distribution. Also, the results indicate that anthropogenic factors were not much effective on the species presence. Roe deer prefers the denser forests since this habitat can reduce its visibility and provide sufficient cover and food for the species.