Potential distribution of plateau pika and its influence factors in the source region of the Yellow River Basin using BIOMOD

The plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) is widely distributed in the source region of the Yellow River Basin (SRYRB) and is a key species in the alpine grassland ecosystem. The spatial distribution of plateau pika and its influence factors are important for understanding the causes of grassland degradation, the formation of " black soil patches”, plateau pika habitat selection, and the role of this species in the ecosystem. In this study, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was used for obtaining the presence/absence data of plateau pika in the SRYRB. The potential distribution of plateau pika in this region was predicted using 10 different models in the BIOMOD ensemble platform for species distribution modeling. The results show that the application of BIOMOD lowers the uncertainty and improves the prediction performance. The random forest (RF) model could best predict the distribution of plateau pika in this region. This study provides a new method for predicting the potential distribution of plateau pika, the results of which can provide the necessary scientific basis for the protection and control of local plateau pika.