GISdevelopment.net ---> AARS ---> ACRS 1992 ---> Poster Session Q Analysis of the reintroduction of the asiatic wild asses in the Ramon nature reserve, ISRAEE using RS and GIS techniques Cohen A, Nature Reserve Authoritym Mizpe Ramon, Israel Amarsaikhan D Informatics Centre, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar-51, Mongolia De Leeuw ITC P.O. Box 6, 7500AA Enschede, The Netherlands Abstract Different varieties of the asiatic wild ass (Equus Hemionus ) inhabit the middle east. In Israel this species came to extinction in the late 19th century. In 1982 the Asiatic wild ass was reintroduced to the Ramon nature reserve in the Nagev, Israel. The animals have been surveyed in a systematic way since the start of the reintroduction. Between 1982 and 1990 the population has been increasing from 15 to 39 individuals. The survey data revealed that the wild asses remained restricted mainly to Maktesh Ramon valley, although land outside the valley seems potentially suitable for wild ass as well. Analysis was made of the utilization by wild asses of the available land in the Ramon nature reserve using RS and GIS techniques. Introduction In 1982 the Israeli Nature Reserve Authority reintroduced the Onager (Equus hemionus onager – Asiatic wild ass into the Makhtesh Ramon Nature reserve. The reintroduction is one of the wild. It is the first reintroduction in the world (P. Alkon, pers. comm.) and is the first reintroduction in Israel. It is part of an overall plan aimed at re-establishing species that were endemic to the land of Israel during biblical times and were extirpated since. The last individuals in this region were sighted in Syria during the 1930s. The introduced herd now numbers 35-40 individuals, including breeding females born in the Makhtesh Ramon. Twenty foals were born free in this nature reserve. This suggests a rapid growth of the population. Both reproduction and off spring survival rates are high. The aim of the study is to apply RS and GIS techniques for the monitoring of the wild asses. For that purpose, spatial and ground truth data was integrated within the ERDAS system and used for the analysis of the territorial behaviour of the wild asses. Background of the study area Makhtesh Ramon is an erosion crater approximately 200 square km. in size, the crater is 40 km. long and 10 km. wide. It is located in the Negev desert of southern Israel. The crater is surrounded by steep cliffs on all sides with a single gorge that drains the crater. The terrain consists of a main dry river bed ( Nahal Ramon ) and tributaries, rocky slopes and sand dunes. Vegetation is mostly restricted to the river beds. Trees are sparse in the Makhtesh Ramon. The region is arid with cool, wet winters and hot dry summers. Rainfall averages 90mm. a year, due 10 mm in the dry season, this varies grantly from year to year. During summer the average temperature is 10-42 degrees C., in winter – 10-25. In winter rains water flows on the major and monor wadis ( seasonally dry river beds) and is widely available throughout the crater. Analysis and discussion At the beginning of the study two separate sets of Landsat TM data covering different parts of the studied area were georeferenced using topographic map of the area. Priori knowledge from the field observation was used for the selection of the tie points. After merging these two sets, various enhancement techniques have been applied make the image more interpretative. To analyze the territorial behaviour of the wild asses, on the enhanced image, screen digitizing has been applied on the basis of the ground truth data and other related information and four images were made. The contours in the image represent every kind of territorial behaviour by the wild asses for different time periods. Image – 1 represents sand basin and water resources. The sand represents the soil with available food for the animals, with 8 plant species, like Tricholaena tenerifae. Pennisetum divisum. Astraqalus spinesus and four species of Stipaqrostis ( Goldring 1987). Image -2 illustrates the territorial behaviour of the movement of the wild asses was within a short period ( i.e., from July, 1983 to January, 1984 ). Image – 4 illustrates the behaviour of the third group. The last two groups were three months in the acclimatization pen and then were released. As see from the images wild ass movements occur more and more and at the end, in 1987 their movements were restricted only by the cliff. This indicates they had enough food and water sources to expand their settle area. At present the groups together, comprise about 60 wild asses. Thus, the project to reintroduce the wild asses that become extinct from the area around 100 years ago has successfully been implemented. Conclusion It is seen that RS and GIS techniques can successfully by used to analyze monitoring of wild animals. In our study, we used a very simple method. In future, to make a more sophisticated analysis, the distribution of the wild animals should be investigated as a function of the parameters, such as the availability of forage, water and its accessibility, and other terrain information. Acknowledgements We would like to thank Mr. L. Blesius, Mr. W Bakker and Mr. M. Andrews for their help and useful advice. References H Kaufman 1988 Thematic Mapper Makhtesh Ramon sr.j.vol. 37. pp 138-142 D. Saltz 1990 Extinction due to Ramon Demographic Processes in Reintroduced Nature Reserves Authority A. Cohen 1984, 1986 A.B. Wilds Ass Makhtesh Ramon Nature Reserves Authority Israel. A. Cohen D. Rubinstein 1989 Genealogy of the Ramon E.H. Onager, kolan 1982 – 1989 Burrough, P.A, 1986, Principles of GIS for Land Resources Assessment, Toronto: Oxford University Press. John A, Richards, 1986, Remote Sensing Digital Image Analysis, Springer – Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York, p. 275. Paul M. Mather, 1987, Computer Processing of Remotely Sensed Image, John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, New Yorkl, Brisbane, Toronto, Singapore, p. 352.