Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Ursus, cilt.2025, sa.36e8, ss.1-15, 2025 (SCI-Expanded)
We aimed to build seasonal habitat suitability models and maps for brown bear (Ursus arctos), which are distributed in the Artvin-Şavşat region of northeastern Turkey. Between May 2018 and May 2020, 200 camera traps were deployed using an opportunistic camera-trap method. Over 280,000 images were captured during 121,140 camera-trap days, with images including 1,860 brown bears detected. Maximum Entropy analysis, which uses only presence data, was employed for seasonal habitat suitability modelling and mapping of brown bears using 30 independent variables and the presence data of brown bears in spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The difference between the training and test data sets of area under the curve (AUC) scores for each model was used to select the most supported model. The model for spring (AUC: 0.920-0.915) included land use class, annual mean temperature, elevation, annual precipitation, ruggedness, and slope class. The model for summer (AUC: 0.921-0.913) included road density, land use class, annual mean temperature, ruggedness, and slope class. Land use class, road density, distance to settlement, annual mean temperature, elevation, slope class, seasonal precipitation, and ruggedness contributed to the model for autumn (AUC: 0.928-0.925). Model results for different seasons were mapped and areas prioritized for protection of the endangered brown bear were determined.