ASSESSMENT OF HABITAT SUITABILITY FOR ASIAN ELEPHANTS IN TEKNAF GAME RESERVE, BANGLADESH

摘要

Habitat suitability assessments focussing on key wildlife species are currently widely employed for attaining biodiversity conservation objectives within the context of sustainable land use management (e.g., USFWS, 1981; Verner et al, 1986; Roloff and Haufler, 1997; Roloff and Kernohan, 1999). In Bangladesh, habitat suitability assessments for capped langurs and hoolock gibbons have recently been developed as an aid to management planning and implementation in protected areas in Sylhet Forest Division (Tecsult, 2000a, 2000b; Salter and Alam, 2003), and are applicable in other evergreen and semi-evergreen forest areas elsewhere in the country. The habitat suitability assessment procedures described herein add the capability for estimating and monitoring the value of the (primarily) secondary vegetation inhabited by Asian elephants. With appropriate modifications to account for additional cover types, the methodology could also be widely applicable elsewhere within the regional distribution of this species.