Habitat suitability modeling for Jalak Bali (Leucopsar rothschildi) in East Java, Bali, and Lombok: A potential sites for its ex-situ conservation

The critically endangered Bali starling (Leucopsar rothschildi) is the only endemic species of bird from the Island of Bali. Due to its restricted range, extremely small numbers in the wild, conservation is a significant and urgent task to do. The objective of this study is to apply spatial modeling techniques to find suitable habitats. Ex-situ conservation could have benefited from this spatial modeling technique. Species occurrence record for L. rothschildi was obtained from Global Biodiversity Information Facility. For the environmental variables, we make use of Worldclim current conditions (1950-2000) at 5 arcmin resolution 5’ (∼10km), complete layers. To conduct the model, we use Biodiversity and Climate Change Virtual Laboratory (BCCVL) platform. The results highlight several places that have similar Habitat Suitability Index with the original habitat (Bali Barat National Park) of these. Bali Starling prefers lowland areas, preferably occur in less dense forest, secondary forest, monsoon/dry forest, and with adjacent savanna or more open vegetation where are at Baluran, Banyuwangi, Alas Purwo, the whole Bali except highland area and southwest of Lombok Island except highland area. This modeling result, therefore, has implications for selecting potential sites for future ex-situ conservation and breeding program extension to save this endemic bird from its extinction.