Habitat suitability and conservation priorities for the lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris) in the Colombian Orinoquia

The lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris) is distributed throughout much of South America and is considered a keystone species because it fulfills crucial ecological roles in tropical forests. Tapirs are associated with forest ecosystems and water bodies throughout their geographic range. In the Orinoquia region of Colombia, tapirs are found in natural savannahs and in dense, gallery, and riparian forests. Although there is data available on tapir natural history, basic knowledge is still lacking across much of its distribution. This research generated a baseline of tapir distribution to assess habitat use and conservation areas across the Orinoquia. We built a database of 110 individual occurrences from camera trap sampling conducted in the departments of Arauca, Casanare, Vichada, and Meta. We built candidate models using the Wallace 2.1.3 R package and selected the best-performing models, which we then implemented in Maxent 3.4.4 to obtain the final distribution outputs. Precipitation seasonality and land cover were the most important variables for tapir distribution, and areas of dense gallery and riparian forests in good conservation state were found to be highly suitable habitats, especially in Arauca and Vichada. Tapir populations likely became locally extinct in the southern part of the department of Casanare. Our results constitute the first approximation of the distribution of the lowland tapir for the Orinoquia region of Colombia. It is necessary to generate additional regional and local data to allow for a more precise evaluation of distribution in these heterogeneous landscapes. The findings of this study provide useful information for conservation strategies and highlight the need for further research to better understand the distribution and habitat use of the lowland tapir in this region.