4.1 Influence of environmental variables on grey wolf and golden
jackal potential distribution
Ensemble habitat suitability for both species revealed that large parts
of the landscape were predicted as potentially suitable habitats for
both species. Also, considerable proportions of key core habitats were
concentrated in southern parts of the landscape. However, the
connectivity modeling results revealed that these extended networks of
core habitat areas were well connected by robust and strong movement
corridors.
Distance to agricultural lands and topographic roughness were the most
important explanatory variables out of those tested in predicting the
occurrence of both canid species. Both species showed similar responses
to these variables. The probability of golden jackal and grey wolf
occurrence increased with increasing distance from agricultural lands
and decreased with growing roughness. Our findings were similar to those
of Shahnaseri et al. (2019) who showed that distance from agricultural
lands was one of the most important variables affecting the presence of
grey wolves and golden jackal in central Iran (Isfahan province).
Heterogeneous agricultural lands which are structurally highly diverse
provide a suitable habitat for many small wild preys (Alain, Gilles, &
Yannick, 2006), i.e., an important potential prey for the golden jackal
(Hayward et al., 2017; Lanszki, Kurys, Heltai, Csányi, & Ács, 2015;
Shahnaseri et al., 2019; Torretta et al., 2020). Our results, however,
show a negative association with agricultural lands suggesting that both
grey wolf and jackal avoid agriculture lands or are persecuted by
humans.
Golden jackal is highly adapted to live in human-dominated landscapes
where they take advantage of various anthropogenic resources (Ćirović,
Penezić, & Krofel, 2016; Lanszki, Schally, Heltai, & Ranc, 2018;
Torretta et al., 2020). Our result showed that the occurrence of this
species would reduce by increasing distance from dumpsites. Our results
show that the southeastern parts of the region contain more suitable
habitats for jackals and most road mortalities were recorded in the
south parts of the study area. This could be due to the greater traffic
volume on the south highways and to the high concentration of villages
and rural areas in the south parts resulting in increased food resource
availability such as dumpsites (Mohammadi et al., 2018; Tourani,
Moqanaki, & Kiabi, 2012). The jackal is known as an elusive species
that is timid around humans thus the species is primarily nocturnal and
under high risk of vehicle collisions at night (Tóth, Krecsák, Szͩcs,
Heltai, & Huszár, 2009). In order to mitigate the risk of
jackal-vehicle collisions that are likely to increase during the summer
tourist season, fencing and wildlife underpasses are proposed to be
incorporated into road network plans and upgrades in areas with known
jackal presence (Foster & Humphrey, 1995; Litvaitis & Tash, 2008).
In contrast to golden jackal, the distribution of the grey wolf was
predominantly influenced by non-human related factors (e.g., elevation
and roughness), a finding reported for other carnivore species in Iran
(Ahmadi et al., 2017; Khosravi et al., 2018). The results of our model
suggested that with growing distance to road wolf presence increased
(Houle, Fortin, Dussault, Courtois, & Ouellet, 2010; Kabir et al.,
2017; Kojola et al., 2016; Whittington, St. Clair, & Mercer, 2005).
This finding suggested that wolves may seek to minimize the probability
of encountering humans by selecting higher elevation and rougher
topography farther from roads (Kabir et al., 2017). Our results in this
regard are similar to Ahmadi et al. (2017) who showed that wolf den
areas were characterized by the low density of settlements and primary
roads. Furthermore, their result showed that wolves primarily establish
dens in the sides of elevated steep-slope hills. Our results also
revealed that elevation and roughness were important predictors of wolf
presence.