Suitibility habitat modeling species using Ecological Niche Factor Analysis (ENFA) in rangelands Chaharbagh of Golestan province, Iran

This research was aimed to modeling the habitat suitability for plant species in southern rangelands of Golestan province by ENFA method with Biomapper software. For this purpose, the spatial data of species presence and environmental conditions were used to identify the suitable sites for the study species and their habitat requirements. For vegetation sampling in each vegetation type, three 50-meter transects were established, along which measurements were performed within 10 plots with five-meter intervals. The plot size was calculated to be 1m2. In each vegetation type, soil sampling was done at 0-30 cm depth. Then data were entered to the Biomapper software and the middle algorithm and harmonic algorithm were used to produce the habitat suitability map. The kappa coefficient was used to check the conformity of the predicted map with actual vegetation map. The kappa coefficient was calculated to be 0.57, 0.70, 0.58, and 0.50 for Artemisia aucheri, Festuca ovina-Astragalus gossypinus, Bromus tomentellus, and Bromus tomentellus- Festuca ovina, respectively. According to the obtained results, the most important environmental factors affecting plant species in the study vegetation types were as follows: clay content and slope (A. aucheri); sand content and altitude (F.ovina-A.gossypinus); sand content and northwest aspect (B.tomentellus); sand content, altitude and organic carbon (F.ovina-A.gossypinus). The models developed in this study can be used to identify suitable areas for range improvement practices.