Coupled MaxEnt-InVEST modelling identifies habitat suitability, quality and conservation gaps of Garrulax maximus

Introduction Habitat degradation and conservation gaps severely threaten China's endemic montane birds, yet few studies have integrated habitat suitability with quality assessment. Methods Using the nationally protected Giant Laughingthrush ( Garrulax maximus ) across five provinces in western China and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, we coupled optimized MaxEnt, InVEST, and GIS approaches to quantify potential distribution, habitat quality, conservation gaps, and environmental drivers. Results The MaxEnt model performed robustly (mean AUC = 0.946). Climate dominated distribution (69.3% cumulative contribution), with annual precipitation (bio12, 35.7%) as the core limiting factor. The species occupied a cold-humid niche: annual precipitation 631.60–794.65 mm, driest-quarter temperature −7.12–2.75 °C, and elevation 2496.79–4012.78 m. High-suitability areas centered on the western Sichuan Basin rim, decreasing outward. Notably, a spatial mismatch emerged between habitat quality and suitability: Yunnan held the largest high-quality habitat (17.28 × 10 4 km 2 ) but limited priority conservation areas, whereas Sichuan, with less high-quality habitat (13.63 × 10 4 km 2 ), contained the largest priority zones (6.95 × 10 4 km 2 ), indicating complementarity rather than substitution. Conservation gaps were extensive (54.26%–75.98%), mainly along reserve boundaries and buffers, revealing structural deficiencies from overemphasizing core zones while neglecting corridors. Discussion These findings underscore the urgency of reassessing and expanding protected area networks to cover priority zones. Our integrated framework offers a scientific reference for conserving the Giant Laughingthrush and managing montane birds within the Hengduan Mountains biodiversity hotspot, with implications for broader conservation planning in ecologically sensitive regions.