TY - JOUR T1 - On the Edge: Identifying priority areas for conservation of Fishing Cat, a threatened wetland felid, amidst rapidly altering freshwater landscapes JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2022.01.16.476498 SP - 2022.01.16.476498 AU - Tiasa Adhya AU - Priyamvada Bagaria AU - Partha Dey AU - Vanessa Herranz Muñoz AU - Anya Avanthi Weerawardana Ratnayaka AU - Ashan Thudugala AU - N.A. Aravind AU - James G. Sanderson Y1 - 2022/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/01/18/2022.01.16.476498.abstract N2 - Freshwater ecosystems have been most severely impacted in the Anthropocene with 27% of its species threatened with extinction. Fishing Cat is a globally threatened South and South-east Asian wetland felid that is also a highly rated Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species, i.e., it is a global priority for conservation and research. Being an understudied species, knowledge gaps exist on its basic ecology, such as distribution and niche.To address this, ensemble species distribution modeling (ESDM) was used to clarify doubts on its potential distribution and niche. To provide a relatable current context, loss of suitable habitat to urbanization (2010-2020) was estimated by analyzing range-wide survey data with environmental and anthropogenic variables (night-time lights and land surface temperature as proxies for urbanization).Wetlands (18.36%) and elevation (17.15%) are the most important variables determining the ecological niche of Fishing Cat. It was predicted to be mainly restricted to low-elevation (<111 m) wetlands in river basins of South and South-east Asia. An estimated 23.74% suitable habitat was lost to urbanization.Incrementally building on the ESDM outputs, high priority movement corridors and landscape conservation units were identified.South Asia holds the core of the global Fishing Cat population with two very important regions - Ganges Brahmaputra Basin and Indus Basin - sharing transboundary areas with highly suitable habitat and many priority conservation units. The former is strategic to maintaining connectivity between South and South-east Asian Fishing Cat populations while isolation effects in the latter need investigation. Coastal wetlands of South-east Asia, though severely impacted, are crucial for the felid’s persistence.More than 90% of Fishing Cat’s potential range lies outside the protected area network. Here, the felid can be adopted as a flagship species to conserve rapidly degrading low- elevation wetlands within a socio-ecological framework by involving multiple stakeholders.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest. ER -