Current distribution and habitat models of the yellow-throated marten, Martes flavigula, in South Korea

Although it is still common in undisturbed tropical habitats, populations of yellow-throated marten (Martes flavigula) have continuously declined throughout their range, particularly in South Korea where the population has been designated as an endangered species. Despite their threatened status, the northeastern population of yellow-throated marten and their habitats are poorly studied, and limited information exists to aid recovery and conservation of this mesocarnivore. In this study, presence data of martens were analyzed using 23 raster datasets for MaxEnt and Biomapper modeling. We assessed resulting habitat models for yellow-throated marten in 773 of 10 × 10 km survey grids in South Korea using field sign and trail cameras in 2018 and 2019. With 2667 confirmed sightings of this species, we created the first distribution map of yellow-throated martens in South Korea. We then analyzed 13 environmental features related to marten occurrence using linear mixed-effects models. Our top models indicated that altitude, precipitation, seasonality, land cover, land price, rail, roads, tourism attractions, and traffic volume explained marten occurrence. Direct human activities were the most reliable indicators of disturbance rather than stationary features such as roads and buildings. Our results also suggest that yellow-throated martens can exist in areas of high human population density. The new ecological information we provide on the distribution and habitat relationships of yellow-throated martens in South Korea will be beneficial for management and conservation of this species in Southeast Asia.