Landscape modeling of threatened Yaqui Catfish in a data limited environment

Authors: Thomas Hafen, Andrew Taylor, James Long, David Stewart, Dean Hendrickson

Year: 2019

Abstract

Yaqui Catfish, Ictalurus pricei, is an understudied species with limited data on their distribution, environment, or habitat use. Native to southwest United States, and northwest Mexico, Yaqui Catfish populations are declining, causing the species to be listed as threatened in the United States, and specially protected in Mexico. Water over-allocation, habitat degradation, invasive species introductions, and hybridization with non-native Channel Catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, have caused the declining populations in Mexico. To help better focus conservation efforts, as well as define important habitat for Yaqui Catfish we modeled the potential distribution using species distribution model MaxEnt, a machine learning program, in the Yaqui River Basin, a basin found in both the US and Mexico. Limited biologically relevant geospatial environmental data in Mexico caused us to model at a landscape scale, allowing us to determine factors that may affect the entire population. Some variables we used were elevation, landcover, temperature, precipitation, and stream order. Response curves from the model indicated relationships with stream order, riparian shrub and slope. Model results also estimated habitat suitability for Yaqui Catfish in 78% of the Yaqui Basin. Evaluations of the model suggest it was predictive as well as discriminative.