A potential habitat corridor for Western Purple-faced Langur between Forest Reserves in Sri Lanka: GIS as a tool in connectivity modelling

Abstract

Endemic Western purple-faced langur (Semnophithecus vetulus nestor) of Sri Lanka, is an exclusively arboreal, critically endangered primate whose habitats are severely fragmented with the human population expansion. Labugama-Kalatuwawa Forest Reserve (LKFR) which is identified as the last strongholds for maintaining viable populations of the species over the long-run and Indikada Mukalana Forest Reserve (IMFR) which is located in a closer proximity to LKFR have no connection with each other at the current status. As there is no assertion of regional habitat connectivity at a metapopulation context, the study aimed to identify a potential habitat corridor for S. v. nestor between LKFR and IMFR by using GIS as a tool in connectivity modelling. Study area was first divided into 0.04 km2 grids using ‘fishnet’ tool. Fivemain resistance criteria for S. v. nestor movementwere selected namely; land use, road density, canopy cover, human tolerance and Feeding Plant Species Richness and Density (FPSRD). Each grid was assigned with resistance values for above criteria ranging from 1 to 6. Overall resistance layer for S. v. nestor movement was created using ‘weighted overlay’ in GIS environment. The best potential habitat corridorwas identified via least-costmodelling. The resultant corridor fallswithin an areawhichmainly comprises of forest and rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) monoculture. It further accounts for the highest human tolerance, canopy continuity, FPSRD and least road density. Resultant corridor can be improved by bridging existing gaps and enriching the corridor habitatswhichwould play an important role in conservation of S. v. nestor by minimizing the isolation of local populations, ensuring the gene flow and maintaining the minimum viable metapopulation in the long run. This study further demonstrates that GIS can be used as an effective tool for least-cost modelling which helps to identify potential wildlife movement corridors at minimum cost.