Habitat Suitability Distribution Analysis in Mingxi County
The ensemble model delineated the habitat suitability for Manis
pentadactyla in Mingxi County into distinct categories: unsuitable
region, encompassing 531 km² or 31% of the total study area; lowly
suitable region extending across 890 km², representing approximately
51%; moderately suitable region covering 260 km², or 15%; and highly
suitable region, the most critical yet scarce, comprising 49 km²,
accounting for 3% of the total area. Notably, within the confines of
the nature reserve, habitats of highly suitable region constituted a
significant 52% (as depicted in Table 3). The spatial analysis revealed
a concentration of moderate to high suitability habitats predominantly
in the northwestern regions, including Fengxi Township, Xiafang
Township, and the eastern sector of Xiayang Township (Figure 3A). A
comprehensive ranking of the county’s 89 administrative villages was
also conducted (Figure 3B), with a detailed exposition of the top nine
villages provided in Table 3. We conducted field surveys in the nine
administrative villages, all of which exhibited distributions of
pangolin burrows (results presented in Figure S3).