Using surrogate species and MaxEnt modeling to prioritize areas for conservation of a páramo bird community in a tropical high Andean biosphere reserve

The páramo grassland ecosystem in the high Andes requires definition of spatially explicit and large-scale priorities for bird conservation, especially for lands outside of protected areas. Using surrogate species such as habitat specialists (e.g., páramo specialists), endemic species, or threatened species to identify potential habitat can support conservation decisions. We used MaxEnt to generate habitat suitability models for eighteen surrogate bird species in a high Andean biosphere reserve, the Macizo del Cajas (MCB). The areas of estimated suitable habitat range from 115,500 to 312,700 ha; the proportion predicted inside the national system of protected areas of MCB ranged from 12 to 29 percent. The consolidated map (i.e., the coincidence of predicted pixels for all eighteen surrogate bird species) predicted an area of 94,800 ha, with 70 percent outside the national system of protected areas. The models reveal that there are large suitable areas of MCB potentially occupied by these species outside of protected areas, especially along the eastern flank of the study area. MaxEnt models as a proxy facilitate the recognition of locations of possible habitat suitability for páramo-specialized birds and therefore identify areas of the MCB outside of the protected areas that should be considered for more formal protection.