Mapping environmental suitability for Andean condor conservation in the southern half of its range

Abstract

Planning conservation actions requires identifying the potential habitats of species and estimating their abundance throughout their range. For mobile species with large home ranges, such as vultures, monitoring is often difficult. Spatial models can be a powerful complementary tool for this purpose. The Andean condor, a threatened and widely distributed species, inhabits diverse environments such as Puna, Yungas, steppes, among others. Moreover, mountainous terrains favor the formation of thermal and orographic currents, which condors use during their daily movements. The aim of this study was to map environmental suitability for the condor in the southern half of its range and compare it with an existing model of relative abundance constructed by other authors from eBird data. We used free-ranging condor records from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility incorporating bioclimatic and topographic variables as predictors. In order to predict the environmental suitability of condors, we applied five algorithms at three different scales using the R software package sdm. GLM model with a scale of 841 km2 was the most accurate model in terms of performance measures and spatial correspondence to the knowledge of spatial ecology of the condor. This environmental suitability model showed a positive association to the relative abundance for the northern, central, and northern Patagonian regions of Chile and Argentina. However, in the southern Patagonia region, where there were sites with high abundance and medium suitability, association was weaker. This study contributes to our knowledge of condor ecology and enhances conservation efforts by identifying vulnerable areas and optimizing monitoring strategies in the region.