Environ Monit Assess (2020) 192:487 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08460-6 Application of InVEST habitat quality module in spatially vulnerability assessment of natural habitats (case study: Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, Iran) Shekoufeh Nematollahi & Sima Fakheran & Felix Kienast & Ali Jafari Received: 25 October 2019 /Accepted: 25 June 2020 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 Abstract There has been a growing pressure of human and Bakhtiari province in the southwestern part of Iran, activities, especially road network, on natural habitats of which is among the most important habitats for wild sheep the world, which has led to habitat degradation and loss of (Ovis orientalis) classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red ecosystem services. To mitigate the impacts of human List. In this study, we used the habitat quality module of activities, appropriate studies quantifying ecosystem ser- the InVEST software (Integrated Valuation of Environ- vices and assessing ecological impacts of road network mental Services and Tradeoffs), which was driven from are essential. The main goal of this study was modeling land use/cover data, information on anthropogenic threats, habitat quality and habitat degradation of Chaharmahal and expert knowledge. We tested the reliability of the habitat quality values by comparing them with the distri- bution map of wild sheep obtained from the Department of the Environment. Then, to have a more comprehensive Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08460-6)contains assessment of the roads’ effects on the natural habitats of supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. this province, considering ecosystem services model, the : Spatial Road Disturbance Index (SPROADI) was applied S. Nematollahi S. Fakheran (*) as a landscape index. The results of this study revealed Department of Natural Resources, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156-83111, Iran that the east and north eastern parts of the study area which e-mail: [email protected] were among the most suitable habitats for wild sheep were e-mail: [email protected] highly affected by road network. Overall, findings of our study provided useful information on the spatially explicit S. Nematollahi distribution of habitat quality and degradation which were e-mail: [email protected] a valuable input for conservation planning and enhancing e-mail: [email protected]? ecosystem services. S. Nematollahi : F. Kienast Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research Keywords Ecosystem services . InVEST . Habitat (WSL), Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland quality . Ecological impacts . SPROADI . Road network F. Kienast e-mail: [email protected] Introduction A. Jafari Department of Natural Resources and Earth Sciences, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord 88186-34141, Iran There has been a growing pressure of human activities e-mail: [email protected] on ecosystems and natural habitats, which has caused Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved. 487 Page 2 of 17 Environ Monit Assess (2020) 192:487 high rates of habitat degradation and loss of the benefits expert knowledge to attain reliable indicators about the such as air quality, climate regulation, and habitat ser- current biodiversity’s response to the threats, and unlike vices (“ecosystem services”) that ecosystems provide other approaches in the field of biodiversity conserva- (Butchart et al. 2010; Terrado et al. 2016). These chang- tion, it does not require prior information on the occur- es have been so widespread that about 32.8% of the rences data of a species (Leh et al. 2013; Baral et al. global protected area networks are heavily influenced by 2014; Terrado et al. 2016). human activities (Jones et al. 2018). As stated by recent The main drivers of the decrease in the quality of the assessments, up to 60% of the world’s ecosystem ser- habitats are climate change and land use change (Pecl vices have been degraded (Maes et al. 2015;Lanzas et al. 2017), which are intensified by other anthropogen- et al. 2019). To mitigate the impacts of human activities, ic threats including the contribution of infrastructure it has been necessary to quantify the current status of and, more particularly, road network development ecosystem services. The four main categories of ecosys- (Freudenberger et al. 2013; Nematollahi et al. 2017). tem services are provisioning, supporting, regulating, The effects of road network on wildlife population and and cultural (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment ecosystem services are cumulative and often irreversible 2005; Lanzas et al. 2019). The major problem is that (Selva et al. 2011; Nematollahi et al. 2017). Roads have the benefits and values of nature are still largely invis- caused death due to crash with vehicles (Bruschi et al. ible to people and decision makers in business and 2015;Ogletreeetal.2019), habitat degradation governments (Albert et al. 2016). These services should (Sánchez-de-Jesús et al. 2016), and decrease in habitat be considered and also valued in ensuring the sustain- quality for wildlife population, and have made barrier able management of multi-functional landscapes which between the left habitat patches (Bruschi et al. 2015; support human well-being (Kienast et al. 2009). ES Esperandio et al. 2019) and also changes in ecosystem mapping could make the nature’s benefits spatially ex- services (Mitchell et al. 2015;Lanzasetal.2019). To plicit and visible to people and decision makers (Grêt- better understand the ecological impacts of roads on Regamey et al. 2015; Hou et al. 2018). wildlife, habitats and ecosystem services at the scale of Conservation efforts have used distribution model of landscape, different indices including DIVISION, species to understand the relationship between the envi- SPLIT, MESH (Mehdipour et al. 2019), Landscape ronment and biodiversity (Elith and Leathwick 2009; Ecological Risk Index (ERI) (Mo et al. 2017), and Kuemmerlen et al. 2014). Such models take into ac- Infrastructure Fragmentation Index (IFI) (Madadi et al. count the occurrences data of a species and relate them 2017) have been developed to quantify and assess the with environmental characteristics including climate, impacts of roads. topography, distance to water resources, distance to To have an exhaustive assessment of road’simpacts, human settlements, and land use/cover and then predict other parameters related to disturbances of road network the areas where those suitable environmental character- should also be considered. The SPROADI, a recently istics are available. In all cases, it is critically important developed index, uses three sub-indices, including traf- to select and use those environmental characteristics fic intensity (T), which measured the traffic load (per which are relevant to the ecology of the species. In space and time), vicinity impact (V), which quantified recent years, focus has shifted towards determining the roads’ effects on neighboring habitats, and fragmen- and including the threat distribution in these models tation grade (F), which calculated the landscape frag- (Allan et al. 2013; Tulloch et al. 2015). GLOBIO mentation degree caused by roads, in calculating the (Alkemade et al. 2009), which is based on the mean cumulative effects of roads on natural habitats species abundance (MSA) and (Tallis et al. 2014)onthe (Freudenberger et al. 2013; Nematollahi et al. 2017). estimation of habitat quality, is considered the example The main goal of this study was modeling and of such models. In contrast to GLOBIO, in which the assessing the habitat quality of wild sheep (Ovis index of biodiversity is related to the baseline corre- orientalis), in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, sponding to the similarity of the natural situation, In- which is among the most important habitats for this VEST requires an evaluation to indicate which habitat species in Iran. For this purpose, at first based on litera- type has the best natural conditions. The habitat quality ture reviews and expert knowledge, the environmental module of InVEST, as a new model, proceeds with data variables which reflected the suitable habitats for wild on anthropogenic threats, land use/land cover, and sheep were identified. Then, the habitat quality module of Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved. Environ Monit Assess (2020) 192:487 Page 3 of 17 487 InVEST was used as a new method. After that, since road amphibian species, and 22 fish species (Jafari and network in the study area is taken as one of the most Azizi 2015; Department of Environmental Protection important risk factors for wild sheep and high density of Agency of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province that (0.29 km/km2) has caused habitat fragmentation and 2007). This province consisted 1 national natural mon- habitat loss, the ecological impacts of road network on ument (Fritillaria imperialis), 1 wildlife refuge wild sheep’s habitats were assessed using the SPROADI. (Shirestan), and 5 protected areas (Tang-e-Sayyad, To this end, the restoration/protection plans were identi- Sabzkouh, Helen, Sheyda, and Gheisari) which cover fied and prioritized for reducing the impacts of road 12.5% of this province area (Department of network for those affected areas. Environmental Protection Agency of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province 2007). Figure 1 shows the location of the protected areas in the Ch & B province. However, Materials and methods because of the high rates of land use change and the high density of road network, these natural habitats are highly Study area vulnerable. Our study area was the Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari (Ch Input data & B) province which is located in the southwestern part of Iran and the central part of the Zagros Mountain The main input data used in the InVEST habitat quality Chains, with an approximate area of 16,332 km2 and module and SPROAD index are given in Table 1. average altitude of 2153 m. The average annual temper- ature is between 8.5° and 20° and the average annual Method rainfall is 560 mm.