Habitat suitability model with maximum entropy approach for European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) in the Black Sea Region

Abstract

Evaluating the relationships between wildlife species and their habitats helps to predict effects of habitat change for present and future management of wild animal populations. Building ecological models are good ways to understand and manage wildlife populations and to predict various environmental scenarios. Recently, management of ungulates is becoming more important in Europe due to a high demand of hunting and their role in biodiversity. European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) is the smallest species of cervids and has a widespread distribution in Turkey. In this study, two habitat suitability models of roe deers, living in the Black Sea Region in Turkey, were created by using a maximum entropy (MaxEnt) approach. Two wildlife development areas, which have widely different habitat types, were selected as study sites. As a result of this study, area under the curve (AUC) values were found to be above 0.80. According to the modeling results, in two different habitat types, ecological variables are quite similar in general. This study is the first study on modeling European roe deers in Turkey.