desirable areas and effective environmental factors of wild goat habitat (capra aegagrus)

capra aegagrus is one of the most highly-valued animals of iran. this species is also consideredas one of the main food sources for the acinonyx jubatus venaticus, which are critically endangered.seasonalhabitat use of wild goat was studied from january 2011 to september 2012 in dareh anjir wildlife refuge,yazd, iran. we developed maximum entropy models in three seasons.this study aims to determine thehabitat desirability and factors affecting wild goats using a maximum entropy algorithm. environmentalvariables used in modeling the three seasons of winter, spring, and summer include elevation classes, slope,direction, vegetation, distance to water sources, distance to the rocky substrate, distance to roads (asphalt,soil), and distance to mines. the results show that the most important factors affecting habitat desirability ofthe wild goat in winter, spring, and summer include the ratio of distance variable to the rocky cliffs, slope, anddistance to water resources. according to the predictions, wild goats are most likely to be found in thenorthern, central and southeastern areas of the dareh anjir wildlife refuge, which are considered the mostdesirable habitats of the species and its associated predator (acinonyx jubatus venaticus) over the threeseasons.the results of this study can be used as a valuable tool in implementing conservation and managementstrategies in order to enhance the desirable habitats in the province of yazd (dareh anjir wildlife refuge).