The habitat concept includes various activities in the management and study of wildlife. Understanding wildlife habitat, especially, how wildlife select habitats is one of critical subjects in wildlife ecology.
The mammalogy lab has worked for habitat selection and modeling of Korean mammals. We completed the distribution maps of Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) and Yellow throated marten (Martes flavigula).
Currently, the mammalogy lab is making a national- wide map of goral (Naemorhedus caudatus) by trail cameras. After completion of dist ribution maps, we investigate habitat preference and build optimal habitat models.
Distribution of Eurasian otters (Lutra lutra) in South Korea 2009–2010 and the relationship with environmental factors. (A) Otter detections (black cells) on 10 × 10 km grid (detected in 680 of 1,074 grid cells) covering the South Korean Peninsula; (B) otter distribution (red dots) overlaid on MaxEnt model predicting habitat suitability of otter in South Korea, cooler colors (blue-green) represent high habitat suitability and warmer colors (orange-red) represent low habitat suitability; (C) elevation model (darker is higher elevation) and distribution of otter detections by elevation, shape, and color of markers indicate elevation of otter location; and (D) human density (darker is higher density) and distribution of otters (red dots).
Also, this lab has adopted radio-telemetry and GPS telemetry for home range analysis and small-scale habitat modeling. Siberian chipmunk (Eutamias sibiricus), leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), Korean hare (Lepus coreanus), and striped field mouse (Apodemus agrarius) have been studied.
