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Modeling Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus Fundamental Niche in Kenya

Received: 29 September 2015     Accepted: 13 October 2015     Published: 17 November 2015
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Abstract

The cheetah is currently recognized by IUCN as a threatened species. Kenya is one of country with significant cheetah population in the world though it fundamental niche is not well known. Wildlife can live in an area only if basic resources such as food, water, and cover are present and if the species is adapted in ways that allow them to cope with the climatic extremes, selection involves several levels of discrimination and spatial scales and a number of potentially interacting factors. This study was to model cheetah fundamental niche using suitable environmental predictors and evaluates suitability of current protected area coverage in its conservation. Two types of model input data used were cheetah occurrence locations and a suite of environmental variables thought to have a direct physiological role in limiting the ability of the species to survive. The species occurrence records and environmental variables were entered into a MaxEnt model which uses maximum entropy algorithm to identify environmental conditions that are associated with species occurrence. Ideal fundamental niche for cheetah were found to be localities within an elevation range of 1600-2100 meters above sea level, receiving mean annual precipitation of 800 mm, with the warmest quarter of the year receiving 250 mm, the wettest month receiving 120 mm, precipitation of coldest quarter 10 mm and temperature seasonality ranges of 150°. Cheetah fundamental niche run across protected areas and for effective conservation, Results could be used to direct conservation effort go beyond parks and reserves by encouraging community conservancies and development of ecological corridors. Protected area planning could benefit too from these results.

Published in International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis (Volume 3, Issue 5)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijema.20150305.22
Page(s) 317-330
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Cheetah, Fundamental Niche, Protected Areas, Community Conservancies

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Bernard Mungoma Kuloba, Hein Van Gils, Iris Van Duren, Shadrack Muvui Muya, Shadrack Mumo Ngene. (2015). Modeling Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus Fundamental Niche in Kenya. International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis, 3(5), 317-330. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijema.20150305.22

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    ACS Style

    Bernard Mungoma Kuloba; Hein Van Gils; Iris Van Duren; Shadrack Muvui Muya; Shadrack Mumo Ngene. Modeling Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus Fundamental Niche in Kenya. Int. J. Environ. Monit. Anal. 2015, 3(5), 317-330. doi: 10.11648/j.ijema.20150305.22

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    AMA Style

    Bernard Mungoma Kuloba, Hein Van Gils, Iris Van Duren, Shadrack Muvui Muya, Shadrack Mumo Ngene. Modeling Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus Fundamental Niche in Kenya. Int J Environ Monit Anal. 2015;3(5):317-330. doi: 10.11648/j.ijema.20150305.22

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijema.20150305.22,
      author = {Bernard Mungoma Kuloba and Hein Van Gils and Iris Van Duren and Shadrack Muvui Muya and Shadrack Mumo Ngene},
      title = {Modeling Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus Fundamental Niche in Kenya},
      journal = {International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis},
      volume = {3},
      number = {5},
      pages = {317-330},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijema.20150305.22},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijema.20150305.22},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijema.20150305.22},
      abstract = {The cheetah is currently recognized by IUCN as a threatened species. Kenya is one of country with significant cheetah population in the world though it fundamental niche is not well known. Wildlife can live in an area only if basic resources such as food, water, and cover are present and if the species is adapted in ways that allow them to cope with the climatic extremes, selection involves several levels of discrimination and spatial scales and a number of potentially interacting factors. This study was to model cheetah fundamental niche using suitable environmental predictors and evaluates suitability of current protected area coverage in its conservation. Two types of model input data used were cheetah occurrence locations and a suite of environmental variables thought to have a direct physiological role in limiting the ability of the species to survive. The species occurrence records and environmental variables were entered into a MaxEnt model which uses maximum entropy algorithm to identify environmental conditions that are associated with species occurrence. Ideal fundamental niche for cheetah were found to be localities within an elevation range of 1600-2100 meters above sea level, receiving mean annual precipitation of 800 mm, with the warmest quarter of the year receiving 250 mm, the wettest month receiving 120 mm, precipitation of coldest quarter 10 mm and temperature seasonality ranges of 150°. Cheetah fundamental niche run across protected areas and for effective conservation, Results could be used to direct conservation effort go beyond parks and reserves by encouraging community conservancies and development of ecological corridors. Protected area planning could benefit too from these results.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Modeling Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus Fundamental Niche in Kenya
    AU  - Bernard Mungoma Kuloba
    AU  - Hein Van Gils
    AU  - Iris Van Duren
    AU  - Shadrack Muvui Muya
    AU  - Shadrack Mumo Ngene
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    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijema.20150305.22
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijema.20150305.22
    T2  - International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis
    JF  - International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis
    JO  - International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis
    SP  - 317
    EP  - 330
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-7667
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijema.20150305.22
    AB  - The cheetah is currently recognized by IUCN as a threatened species. Kenya is one of country with significant cheetah population in the world though it fundamental niche is not well known. Wildlife can live in an area only if basic resources such as food, water, and cover are present and if the species is adapted in ways that allow them to cope with the climatic extremes, selection involves several levels of discrimination and spatial scales and a number of potentially interacting factors. This study was to model cheetah fundamental niche using suitable environmental predictors and evaluates suitability of current protected area coverage in its conservation. Two types of model input data used were cheetah occurrence locations and a suite of environmental variables thought to have a direct physiological role in limiting the ability of the species to survive. The species occurrence records and environmental variables were entered into a MaxEnt model which uses maximum entropy algorithm to identify environmental conditions that are associated with species occurrence. Ideal fundamental niche for cheetah were found to be localities within an elevation range of 1600-2100 meters above sea level, receiving mean annual precipitation of 800 mm, with the warmest quarter of the year receiving 250 mm, the wettest month receiving 120 mm, precipitation of coldest quarter 10 mm and temperature seasonality ranges of 150°. Cheetah fundamental niche run across protected areas and for effective conservation, Results could be used to direct conservation effort go beyond parks and reserves by encouraging community conservancies and development of ecological corridors. Protected area planning could benefit too from these results.
    VL  - 3
    IS  - 5
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Kenya Wildlife Service, Biodiversity Research and Monitoring, Nairobi, Kenya

  • Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands

  • Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands

  • Department of Zoology, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya

  • Kenya Wildlife Service, Parks and Reserves, Nairobi, Kenya

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