Estimating habitat suitability for potential hantavirus reservoirs in north-western Patagonia using satellite imagery: Searching for the best predictive tools

We modelled potential distribution maps for four species of rodents known to be reservoirs of the hantavirus disease. These models provide general distribution hypotheses based on a 14-year period and 274 field capture sites. Satellite remote sensing were used to extrapolate climatic and environment...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Mammalian biology : Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde 2011-01, Vol.76 (4), p.409-416
Main Authors: Monjeau, J. Adrián, Rotela, Camilo H., Lamfri, Mario, Márquez, Jorge, Scavuzzo, C. Marcelo, Stanulescu, Magdalena, Nabte, Marcela J., Rial, Ezequiel Gonzalez
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal Anatomy
Animal Ecology
Animal Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography
Distribution prediction
Evolutionary Biology
Fish & Wildlife Biology & Management
Histology
Landscape structure
Life Sciences
Morphology
Original Investigation
Patagonian rodents
Remote sensing
Zoology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We modelled potential distribution maps for four species of rodents known to be reservoirs of the hantavirus disease. These models provide general distribution hypotheses based on a 14-year period and 274 field capture sites. Satellite remote sensing were used to extrapolate climatic and environmental features of potentially suitable habitats for these rodents in Nahuel Huapi National Park and surrounding areas. We tested the accuracy of different satellite sensors for the geographic distribution of Oligoryzomys longicaudatus, Abrothrix longipilis, Abrothrix olivaceus and Loxodontomys micropus. When looking for the best method to predict the presence of potential hantavirus reservoir species assemblages, the best prediction levels were obtained using supervised parallelepiped classifications of the SAC-C Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) combined with the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) (91.71% for A. longipilis, 95.35% for A. olivaceus, 91.92% for L. micropus and 90.82% for O. longicaudatus). These results show that upper components of the landscape structure (e.g. climate and topography) determine the spatial distribution of hantavirus reservoirs independently of the floristic composition of the vegetation patches.
ISSN:1616-5047
1618-1476
DOI:10.1016/j.mambio.2011.04.001