Suitable Habitat Zone Analysis In Allidegi Wildlife Reserve Ethiopia A Case Study For Grevys Zebra

Currently natural and anthropogenic effects are causing changes in wildlife suitablernhabitat status and distribution. This resulted in heterogeneous habitat matrix of landscape.rnMeanwhile, limited range of methods for studying suitable habitat analysis leads to havernlimited information and knowledge. Application of GIS and remote sensing for wildlifernsuitable habitat analysis increases monitoring of suitable habitat distribution and assists inrnassessing suitable habitat variables and their respective influences. The GIS based multicriteriarnevaluation for suitable habitat analysis presented in this study used to analyzernGrevy’s zebra suitable habitat distribution in Allidegi wildlife reserve through integratingrnhabitat factors with expertise opinion. This enables to evaluate and characterize Grevy’srnzebra suitable habitat status and distribution across the study area. The objectives of thisrnstudy were to contribute a better understanding of suitable habitat distribution of anrnendangered Grevy’s zebra in Allidegi wildlife reserve by using GIS and remote sensing.rnFurther, Grevy’s zebra suitable habitat index had been developed through identifying andrnassessing the relative importance of Grevy’s zebra suitable habitat parameters for anrnimproved management in the study area. Vegetation cover, slope, proximity to waterrnpoint, settlement and road were identified as the major Grevy’s zebra habitat definingrnfactors. Hence, their influences were analyzing and reclassified for evaluating the suitablernhabitat. The relative importances of the factors were determined through key informantrninterview and their weights were determined through analytical hierarchy process. GISrnbased multi-criteria evaluation was used to combine the factors map and their respectivernweight to produce final suitability map. Among the selected suitable habitat factors ofrnGrevy’s zebra grassland areas found to be the most important factor in the habitatrnsuitability index with weight of 45%. The final suitable habitat map showed that 19%rn(272 kmï ) are of the reserve found to be highly suitable habitat for Grevy’s zebra and 25%rn(368 km2) moderately suitable habitat and the rest 56% (820km2) of areas found to bernunsuitable. Integrating this study results into conservation planning and managementrnpractices of the reserve would enhance decision making utility.

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