Proceedings Article | 29 January 2024
KEYWORDS: Modeling, Vegetation, Land cover, Animal model studies, Data modeling, Analytical research, Data processing, Performance modeling, Statistical analysis
Batang Gadis National Park or also known as TNBG is one of the national parks in Indonesia located in Mandailing Natal Regency, and there are at least 8 types of hornbill species (Bucerotidae Family) that inhabit this area. According to the IUCN Red List, these hornbill species are generally classified as vulnerable, threatened, or even endangered. This research aims to identify the general hornbill habitats suitability in TNBG and create the geospatial model based on its distribution survey. This study utilizes the Maximum Entropy algorithm as an analysis method with seven environmental variables such as; habitat fragments, canopy density, distance from the river, slope, elevation, aspect, and also the presence data obtained from field survey that will serve as guidelines in predicting the distribution tendencies of hornbills. Out of 20 tests, the algorithm produced the best model in the 18th replication, achieving the AUC value of 0.8306. Elevation was found to be the most influential variable, contributing 38.7% to the identification and modeling of hornbill habitat suitability in TNBG, aspect accounted for 17.9%, followed by land cover at 16.6%. The average habitat characteristics indicate elevations between 650-1250 meters above sea level, with slopes facing southwest, east, and north. The hornbill also can be found in forest, plantation, and agriculture land cover on moderately steep and steep slopes within the distance range of 0-500 meters from the main river and 0-50 meters from habitat fragments with high vegetation density. The modeling results reveal that 22.85% of the area has very low habitat suitability, while 24.64% has low suitability. Moderate suitability accounts for 24.55%, high suitability for 21.72%, and very high suitability for 6.23%.