Habitat Use by the Persian Onager, Equus
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This article was downloaded by: [Haniyeh Nowzari] On: 03 September 2013, At: 23:46 Publisher: Taylor & Francis Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Journal of Natural History Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tnah20 Habitat use by the Persian onager, Equus hemionus onager (Perissodactyla: Equidae) in Qatrouyeh National Park, Fars, Iran Haniyeh Nowzari a , Mahmoudreza Hemami b , Mahmoud Karami a , Mir Masoud Kheirkhah Zarkesh a , Borhan Riazi a & Daniel I. Rubenstein c a Department of Environment and Energy, Science and Research Branch , Islamic Azad University , Tehran , Iran b Department of Natural Resources , Isfahan University of Technology , Isfahan , Iran c Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology , Princeton University , Princeton , NJ , USA Published online: 03 Sep 2013. To cite this article: Journal of Natural History (2013): Habitat use by the Persian onager, Equus hemionus onager (Perissodactyla: Equidae) in Qatrouyeh National Park, Fars, Iran, Journal of Natural History To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2013.802040 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. 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Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms- and-conditions Downloaded by [Haniyeh Nowzari] at 23:46 03 September 2013 Journal of Natural History, 2013 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2013.802040 Habitat use by the Persian onager, Equus hemionus onager (Perissodactyla: Equidae) in Qatrouyeh National Park, Fars, Iran Haniyeh Nowzaria*, Mahmoudreza Hemamib , Mahmoud Karamia , Mir Masoud Kheirkhah Zarkesha , Borhan Riazia and Daniel I. Rubensteinc aDepartment of Environment and Energy, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran; bDepartment of Natural Resources, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran; cDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA (Received 30 November 2011; final version received 18 April 2013) Iran’s Persian onager populations are critically endangered. This study of their natural history in Qatrouyeh National Park provides insights for enhancing their conservation. The population as a whole is greatly affected by weather. Wind, rain and cold drive populations from the plains to the valleys of hill-valley habitats. Vegetation features and water also influence habitat use, but differently for differ- ent sex and reproductive classes. Females with juveniles use plains with high-quality vegetation, whereas females without young and solitary territorial males choose those of intermediate quality. Females with young foals are also found closest to watering points. Future translocation of Persian onagers will only succeed if prospective habitats have sufficient hill-valley refuges and enough plains with winds to moderately hot conditions. Sufficient plains supporting high-quality vegetation near water for lactating females must co-exist with plains of moderate-quality veg- etation that attract females without young, so reducing crowding and competition. Keywords: habitat associations; equid; Normalized Difference Vegetation Index; environmental harshness; reproductive state Introduction Horses, zebras and asses, members of the family Equidae, flourished early in the Pleistocene and inhabited a range of habitats in North and South America as well as Europe, Africa and Asia. Today, five out of seven extant equids are now listed as threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) includ- Downloaded by [Haniyeh Nowzari] at 23:46 03 September 2013 ing: Equus africanus as Critically endangered (CR), Equus hemionus, Equus grevyi and Equus ferus as Endangered (EN) and Equus zebra as Vulnerable (VU) species (IUCN 2008). Once distributed from Mongolia to Ukraine to Saudi Arabia and from India to Kazakhstan, the Asiatic wild ass, E. hemionus, now exists only in parts of China, India, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran (Moehlman et al. 2008). The Persian onager E. hemionus onager, one of the five subspecies of E. hemionus, has been declining in numbers over recent decades and is restricted to two isolated populations in two semi-arid ecosystems of Iran. This taxon was categorized as crit- ically endangered (CR) because of its small population size (IUCN 2002; Tatin et al. 2003). *Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] © 2013 Taylor & Francis 2 H. Nowzari et al. One of the central tenets of behavioural ecology is that features of the environ- ment shape animal behaviour (Rubenstein 1986; Krebs and Davies 1997). Resource requirements affect habitat choice and resource use, which in turn affect competi- tion, grouping behaviour, mating activities and ultimately reproductive success and fitness (Lawes and Nanni 1993). Understanding the forces that shape habitat use (Henley et al. 2006; Nowzari et al. 2007) is essential for understanding how behaviour influences resource use and population dynamics (Sibly and Smith 1985). By deci- phering the rules determining how environmental features influence behaviour and population dynamics, conservation biologists should be able to assess the major threats facing species and intervene to manipulate this link by changing human behaviour to improve their survival prospects, enhance ecosystem function, and improve human livelihoods in environmentally sustainable ways (Rubenstein 2010). Overall, behavioural ecology has much to offer for solving conservation problems (Caro 1998). Currently, Qatrouyeh National Park (QNP) and Touran National Park (TNP) are the last strongholds for the Persian onager in Iran (Ziaee 2008). Except for a few stud- ies (Groves 1974; Harrington 1977; Tatin et al. 2003), information about the ecology of populations in these protected areas is limited. There is a lack of information about population size, age structure and sex ratio and what factors influence habitat use (Duncan 1992; Moehlman 2002). The aim of this study is to identify patterns of habi- tat use, and how these patterns are shaped by environmental, social and reproductive factors and then determine how this information can help to guide conservation in QNP and management as has been demonstrated in other equids (Suring and Vohs 1979; Moehlman 2002; Hemami et al. 2004; Sundaresan et al. 2007; Kaczensky et al. 2008). Material and methods Study area Bahramegoor Protected area was established in 1972. It is 408,000 ha in size and is located 55 km from Neyriz city and is near Qatrouyeh town in Fars province (Darvishsefat 2006). The Department of Environment identified QNP as the core zone of the Bahramegoor Protected area in 2007. It is located from 29◦10 to 29◦26 N, 54◦36 to 54◦48 E (Figure 1A, B), is 32,576 ha in size, and ranges in height from Downloaded by [Haniyeh Nowzari] at 23:46 03 September 2013 2787 m to 1680 m above sea level. Its terrain consists of mountains and desert-like plains. Its average annual rainfall ranges from 150 to 250 mm, so it is considered a semi-arid ecosystem. Maximum temperatures reach 44◦C and minimum temperatures drop to – 1◦C during the hottest and the coldest months, respectively. The prevailing winds are east to west during the summer and switch to north to south during the win- ter. QNP includes part of the Zagros Mountains and consists of three main habitats: the Koohsorkh-e-bozorg Mountains, the Rigjamshid, Einaljalal and Dehvazir plains and many areas with hills and valleys. Water for wildlife is supplied by natural springs and human-made wells and associated drinking troughs. Three vegetation commu- nities predominate: Artemisia–Zygophylum (Ar-Zy), Artemisia–Amygdalus (Ar-Am) and Rock (Figure 1C) (Qatrouyeh National Park – Bahramegoor Protected Area com- prehensive management plan 2010). Apart from the Persian onager, there are large herbivores such as wild sheep (Ovis orientalis), wild goat (Capra aegagrus) and Jebeer Journal of Natural History 3 55°0'0"E 54°37'0"E 54°44'0"E 30°0'0"N 30°0'0"N E 29°21'0"N E 29°21'0"N D R 29°14'0"N 29°14'0"N 0482 29°0'0"N High : 2824.93 0204010 29°0'0"N Kilometers Low : 1557.83 Kilometers water resources 55°0'0"E 54°37'0"E 54°44'0"E (A) (B) 54°37'0"E 54°44'0"E 54°37'0"E 54°44'0"E 29°21'0"N 29°21'0"N 29°21'0"N 29°21'0"N Downloaded by [Haniyeh Nowzari] at 23:46 03 September 2013 0482 Kilometers 29°14'0"N 0482 29°14'0"N Ar-Am 29°14'0"N 29°14'0"N Ar-Zy Kilometers R ROAD 54°37'0"E 54°44'0"E 54°51'0"E 54°37'0"E 54°44'0"E (C) (D) Figure 1. (A) DEM map of Bahramegoor Protected Area and its location in Iran; black lines show the boundaries of Qatrouyeh National Park. (B) There are 17 water resources in the park: four in Rigjamshid (R), four in Einaljalal (E) and nine in Dehvazir (D) plains.