Eco-Spatial Modeling of Two Giant Flying Squirrels (Sciuridae: Petaurista): Navigating Climate Resilience and Conservation Roadmap in the Eastern Himalaya and Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspots

Global warming and anthropogenic threats are significant drivers of biodiversity loss, particularly impacting smaller mammalian species. Hence, this study assessed two overlooked giant flying squirrel species, <i>Petaurista magnificus</i> and <i>Petaurista nobilis</i>, distributed across the transboundary regions of the Eastern Himalayas and Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspots. Utilizing a maximum entropy (MaxEnt) species distribution model, this study delineated suitable habitats within the IUCN-defined extent of both <i>Petaurista</i> species based on two modeling approaches: the habitat-climate model (HCM) and the climate-only model (COM). The models identified suitable habitat coverage of only 3.92% (HCM) and 3.75% (COM) for <i>P. magnificus</i> and 14.17% (HCM) and 10.04% (COM) for <i>P. nobilis</i>. However, as the HCM integrates both environmental and habitat variables, providing a more holistic assessment, it revealed limited biological corridor connectivity within the IUCN-defined extent for both species. Furthermore, the future projections based on the HCM indicate habitat loss of up to 81.90% for <i>P. magnificus</i> and 89.88% for <i>P. nobilis</i> due to climate change, alongside severe fragmentation, leading to the disappearance of viable habitat patches. These remaining suitable patches are expected to shrink and become increasingly isolated in the future due to climate change. Furthermore, centroid shift analyses based on the HCM predict a northwestward shift for <i>P. magnificus</i> and a westward shift for <i>P. nobilis</i> under different climate scenarios. Hence, to address these conservation challenges, the study underscores the necessity for extensive field surveys, genetic assessments, habitat corridor evaluations, and the establishment of transboundary conservation frameworks to formulate an evidence-based species management strategy for both <i>Petaurista</i> species.