Habitat suitability and representation of the potential distribution of the lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris) within land cover types and protected areas of eastern Colombia

Abstract

The lack of knowledge about the distributional patterns of threatened ungulates hinders the implementation of effective strategies for the conservation of their populations in Neotropical savannas. The Orinoquia is one of those ecoregions with limited data, poorly represented in the Colombian National System of Protected Areas. Nevertheless, the savannas of the Orinoquia serve as the habitat for 70% of the ungulate species reported in the country. The objective of our research was to identify the presence of the lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris) and evaluate its representation in different land cover types and within Protected Areas (PAs) in the department of the Vichada. To accomplish this, we: (i) modeled the ecological niche of the lowland tapir using the MaxEnt algorithm, (ii) classified the potential distribution into three zones of habitat suitability, and (iii) assessed the representativeness of habitat suitability within the land cover of the savanna ecosystem and PAs. The suitable area for the lowland tapir was 134,575 km², with the most representative savanna landscapes being: (i) savannas (118,125 km², 87.8%) and (ii) evergreen broadleaf forests (12,550 km², 9.3%). Furthermore, (2,925 km², 2.2%) of the suitable area was reported within of the Natural Reserves of Civil Society. Our results highlight the ecological importance of private conservation initiatives as a complementary strategy to government PAs as well as contributing to functional connectivity on the regional scale. We provide information on the spatial ecology of the lowland tapir as an input for conservation practitioners and land planning in the savanna of eastern Colombia.