ANALYSIS OF HABITAT AREA FOR ENDANGERED SPECIES USING MAXENT BY URBANIZATION IN CHIBA, JAPAN

Abstract

Chiba prefecture in Japan abounds with rich nature and is surrounded by sea and many rivers. But the number of endangered species in Chiba has been increasing since World War II because various habitats have been destroyed by rapid urbanization. However, studies have analyzed the time-series change in the amount of green area and habitat area for endangered species taking into consideration adverse impacts of road construction and residential land development in Chiba, Japan. In this research, we estimated the change
of green area and habitat area for some endangered species using MaxEnt (Maximum Entropy Modeling) software for modeling species niches and distributions. As the result, it was shown that the green space area and water environment including rivers, lakes, ponds, and coastal area has decreased while the buildup area has increased from 1976 to 2009. Also, it was concluded that total habitat possibility area of the ruddy crake, red fox, Japanese skink, and Tokyo salamander have decreased by 3.6%, 6.0%, 1.6%, and 0.7%, respectively.