Environmental vulnerability to flooding and habitat suitability mapping of Gazella marica

Floods are one of the catastrophic natural disasters that have threatened human society and biodiversity throughout history. This is particularly so in coastal habitats such as the Mond Protected Area of Iran and is one of the principal factors endangering Arabian sand gazelle in this area. The Arabian sand gazelle is considered an independent species in Iran and The Mond Protected Area is its only habitat in Iran. This study aimed to determine the suitability of the habitat and identify the flood -prone areas of Mand protected area. Using the maximum entropy method and MaxEnt software, a habitat suitability map was prepared. To study the impacts of Mond River flooding on gazelle habitats within the Mond Protected Area and provide 25 to 500 -year return period flood inundation maps, a two-dimensional HEC-RAS model was developed. After mixing the flood inundation maps with the suitability map, it was determined that significant parts of the center and west sections of the study area are prone to devastating floods. Generally, in this study, we have determined by using flood zoning techniques in areas that are likely to be affected by floods, which is very effective in managing floodplain areas and controlling floods to reduce flood damage to the only sand gazelle's habitat in Iran.