Potential Current and Future Distribution of the Long-Whiskered Owlet (Xenoglaux loweryi) in Amazonas and San Martin, NW Peru

Abstract

The IUCN has listed the long-whiskered owlet (Xenoglaux loweryi) as vulnerable due to the presence of few geographic records, its restricted range, and anthropogenic threats. Its natural history and ecology are largely unknown, and its distribution is widely debated; therefore, there is an urgent need for the real-time conservation of X. loweryi. In this study, 66 geo-referenced records of X. loweryi, 18 environmental variables, and the maximum entropy model (MaxEnt) have been used to predict the current and future (2050 and 2070) potential distribution of X. loweryi in the Amazonas and San Martin regions of northwestern Peru. In fact, under current conditions, areas of “high”, “moderate”, and “low” potential habitat suitability cover 0.16% (140.85 km2), 0.46% (416.88 km2), and 1.16% (1048.79 km2) of the study area, respectively. Moreover, under future conditions, the “high”, “moderate”, and “low” probability areas present profits and losses in terms of habitat suitability. Based on the environmental variables, this species mostly inhabits areas with a forest fraction with presence of trees with an emergent tree canopy of ~10–30 metres and depends on Yunga montane forest habitats with high humidity but it is not dependent on bare cover area, crops, or grasslands. Nevertheless, most of the current and future distribution areas are not part of the protected natural areas of Amazonas and San Martin. Additionally, the combination of climate change and anthropogenic activities contribute to further losses of this species habitat. Therefore, from the management point of view, corrective and preventive actions will help to preserve this species over time.

Environmental Niche Modelling Predicts a Contraction in the Potential Distribution of Two Boreal Owl Species under Different Climate Scenarios

“…After choosing the final models, we imported them into ArcGIS and divided habitat suitability into four levels according to the AUC values: unsuitable habitat (0–0.05), poorly suitable habitat (0.05–0.33), moderately suitable habitat (0.33–0.67), and highly suitable habitat (0.67–1). Various studies have different approaches in determining “highly suitable habitat” classification, where some are too strict (0.8–1) [ 82 ] and others are more accepting (0.6–1) [ 83 , 84 , 85 ]. Therefore, we decided to use a classification that would meet the requirements in the middle.…”

Potential Distribution and Identification of Critical Areas for the Preservation and Recovery of Three Species of Cinchona L. (Rubiaceae) in Northeastern Peru

“…A literature review was conducted to identify variables that could contribute to the distribution models [50]. This included 19 bioclimatic variables and one environmental variable (radiation), obtained from the WorldClim version 2 database at 30 s (~1 km) resolution (http://www.worldclim.org/ (accessed on 22 June 2023)) [51]; three topographic variables (elevation, aspect, and slope) derived from the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) at a spatial resolution of 250 m downloaded from the CGIAR Consortium for Spatial Information portal (http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/ (accessed on 26 June 2023)) [52]; and nine edaphic variables, obtained from Soil Grids (https://soilgrids.org/ (accessed on 29 June 2023)) at a spatial resolution of 250 m. The bioclimatic and environmental layers were used in their current conditions (1970-2000 average), as they are widely used in ecological studies due to their free availability, global coverage, and good quality [53]. The data sets were re-sampled at a resolution of 250 m, and in total, 32 thematic layers were obtained.…”

Comparative study of ovarian development in wild and captive-reared long-whiskered Sperata aor (Hamilton, 1822)

“…However, this fish is now considered an endangered species owing to the substantial depletion of the natural breeding and feeding grounds along with climate change as well as human intervention [ 7 – 9 ]. Its domestication represents an effective tool [ 10 ] to protect from extinction as well as increase aquaculture production and competitiveness, hence providing protein security to human and sustainable aquaculture management of S. aor in the haor basin of Sylhet.…”