The Effect of Environmental ‎Factors on the Selection of ‎Suitable Breeding Areas of Red ‎Deer Cervus elaphus maral in ‎Mazandaran Province

Red Deer is the largest native deer in Iran. The species distribution is restricted to only some core zones of protected areas of the country. The most important factors in the decline of the population of the species are the destruction and fragmentation of its habitat, overhunting, and poaching which are strongly influenced by human activities. Therefore, modeling and identifying breeding habitats in the remaining suitable areas can help conservation managers to protect the remaining populations of this species. The core zone of the Central Alborz Protected Area is the most important core area for breeding Red Deer. In this study, we investigated the species habitat selection by the ecological niche factor analysis method. The results in the ENFA method with values of 1.3 marginalities and specialty 5.5 indicate habitat areas with higher slopes and dem than the average which has low tolerability, are preferred by the species. Accordingly, it can be concluded that the protection of the region is an important factor to conserve the species.