Ecological and Geographical Analysis of the Distribution of the Mountain Tapir (Tapirus pinchaque) in Ecuador: Importance of Protected Areas in Future Scenarios of Global Warming
In Ecuador, Tapirus pinchaque is considered to be critically endangered. Although the species has been registered in several localities, its geographic distribution remains unclear, and the effects of climate change and current land uses on this species are largely unknown. We modeled the ecological niche of T. pinchaque using MaxEnt, in order to assess its potential adaptation to present and future climate change scenarios. We evaluated the effects of habitat loss due by current land use, the ecosystem availability and importance of Ecuadorian System of Protected Areas into the models. The model of environmental suitability estimated an extent of occurrence for species of 21,729 km2 in all of Ecuador, mainly occurring along the corridor of the eastern Ecuadorian Andes. A total of 10 Andean ecosystems encompassed ~98% of the area defined by the model, with herbaceous paramo, northeastern Andean montane evergreen forest and northeastern Andes upper montane evergreen forest being the most representative. When considering the effect of habitat loss, a significant reduction in model area (~17%) occurred, and the effect of climate change represented a net reduction up to 37.86%. However, the synergistic effect of both climate change and habitat loss, given current land use practices, could represent a greater risk in the short-term, leading to a net reduction of 19.90 to 44.65% in T. pinchaque’s potential distribution. Even under such a scenarios, several Protected Areas harbor a portion (~36 to 48%) of the potential distribution defined by the models. However, the central and southern populations are highly threatened by habitat loss and climate change. Based on these results and due to the restricted home range of T. pinchaque, its preference for upland forests and paramos, and its small estimated population size in the Andes, we suggest to maintaining its current status as Critically Endangered in Ecuador.
Laboratorio de Biogeografía, Departamento de Biología Evolutiva, Instituto de Ecología, A.C, carretera antigua a Coatepec No. 351, El Haya, 91070 Xalapa, Veracruz, México;Fundación EcoCiencia, Programa para la Conservación de Especies Amenazadas de Extinción en Ecuador, Pasaje Estocolmo E2-166 and Av. Amazonas, Quito, Ecuador;Museo Ecuatoriano de Ciencias Naturales, Sección de Vertebrados, División de Herpetología, calle Rumipamba 341 y Av. de los Shyris, Quito, Ecuador;Laboratorio de Biogeografía, Departamento de Biología Evolutiva, Instituto de Ecología, A.C, carretera antigua a Coatepec No. 351, El Haya, 91070 Xalapa, Veracruz, México;Centro de Modelado Científico, Eje BioCiencias, Universidad del Zulia, Maracaibo, Venezuela;Master Biodiversidad en Áreas Tropicales y su Conservación, Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (UIMP)-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas de España (SCIC), Madrid, España;Proyecto de conservación del Tapir Andino (Tapirus pinchaque) en la vertiente Oriental de los Andes Centrales del Ecuador; Fundación EcoCiencia, Quito, Ecuador;Master en Espacios Naturales Protegidos, Fundación Fernando González Bernáldez- Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, España;Departamento Central de Investigación, Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí, Manta, Ecuador
Recommended Citation:
H. Mauricio Ortega-Andrade,David A. Prieto-Torres,Ignacio Gómez-Lora,et al. Ecological and Geographical Analysis of the Distribution of the Mountain Tapir (Tapirus pinchaque) in Ecuador: Importance of Protected Areas in Future Scenarios of Global Warming[J]. PLOS ONE,2015-01-01,10(3)