Himalayan musk deer (Moschus leucogaster) is considered endangered by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and is under Schedule-I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, because of its illicit hunting for musk as well as habitat loss. The present study aims to study the summer range habitat suitability of this important Himalayan ungulate in Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS) of Western Himalaya, India. The study integrated ground presence point locations of the species with satellite data-derived variables in a binomial multiple logistic regression (BMLR) model to analyse its suitability status in KWS. Moist temperate forest (323.38 km2) was found to be the dominant vegetation type, followed by sub-alpine forest (128.24 km2) and alpine pasture (119.51 km2) in KWS. It was found that 7.39% (72.04 km2) of the study area is highly suitable, followed by 14.73% (143.68 km2), 13.43% (131.02 km2) and 64.44% (628.46 km2) area as suitable, moderately suitable and least suitable, respectively, for the species. The results also revealed that 71.59% (51.57 km2) of the highly suitable habitat occurs in sub-alpine forest, 18.41% (13.26 km2) in alpine pasture and 5.63% (4.06 km2) in alpine scrub. It was found that the vegetation type/land use was the most significant variable for habitat suitability assessment of the Himalayan musk deer in KWS. The BMLR model could successfully predict the potential summer range habitat of the species (Relative Operating Characteristics curve = 0.85). The findings of this study could be of immense use in the management of this Wildlife Sanctuary for better protection and conservation of the Himalayan musk deer.

中文翻译：

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印度喜马拉雅西部部分地区喜马拉雅麝（Moschus leucogaster）生境适宜性分析

喜马拉雅麝 (Moschus leucogaster) 被国际自然保护联盟 (IUCN) 视为濒危动物，并受 1972 年《印度野生动物（保护）法》的附表 I 保护，因为它非法捕猎麝以及栖息地丧失。本研究旨在研究这种重要的喜马拉雅有蹄类动物在印度喜马拉雅西部的 Kedarnath 野生动物保护区 (KWS) 的夏季栖息地适宜性。该研究在二项式多元逻辑回归 (BMLR) 模型中将物种的地面存在点位置与卫星数据衍生的变量相结合，以分析其在 KWS 中的适宜性状态。湿温带森林（323.38 平方公里）被发现是主要植被类型，其次是亚高山森林（128.24 平方公里）和高山牧场（119.51 平方公里）。发现 7.39% (72. 04 km2) 的研究区高度适宜，其次是 14.73% (143.68 km2)、13.43% (131.02 km2) 和 64.44% (628.46 km2) 区域分别适合、中度适宜和最不适宜物种。结果还显示，71.59%（51.57 平方公里）的高度适宜栖息地发生在亚高山森林中，18.41%（13.26 平方公里）在高山牧场，5.63%（4.06 平方公里）在高山灌丛中。发现植被类型/土地利用是 KWS 喜马拉雅麝的栖息地适宜性评估的最重要变量。BMLR 模型可以成功预测该物种的潜在夏季栖息地（相对运行特征曲线 = 0.85）。这项研究的结果可能对管理这个野生动物保护区非常有用，以更好地保护和保护喜马拉雅麝。