Geo-Spatial Modelling of Habitat Suitability of wildlife species of Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary

Abstract

Predicting species habitat in a wildlife sanctuary is essential in management and conservation process of the species. Habitat map appear most capable of providing information on the distribution of large numbers of species in a wider variety of habitat types. Integrated GIS and Remote Sensing have already successfully been applied to map the distribution of several plant and animal species, their ecosystems, landscapes, bio-climatic conditions and factors facilitating invasions. The present study is carried out using the technologies of Remote Sensing and GIS to predict and model the habitat suitability of some herbivorous species of Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary for better management and conservation in a cost-effective way. The paper presents the habitat suitability of the various wildlife species found in the sanctuary. The sanctuary was categorized into 9 habitats - Mixed forest, Dense Forest, Open Forest, Kardhai forest, Khair- Kardhai forest, Dhawa forest, Khair forest, Dry/ Barren land and Water bodies using supervised classification. Wildlife species were surveyed using point count and distance sampling techniques while registering the coordinates with a GPS from 2008 to 2010. Geo-statistical Kriging and Co-Kriging methods were used to calculate the predictable habitat of the wild prey species encountered taking into account the proximity to water availability, habitat type, slope, aspect, distance from human habitats, etc.