Using nighttime remote sensing and maxent model to assess the impact of Russian-Ukrainian war on vertebrate biodiversity conservation value in five regions

Ukraine, endowed with abundant biodiversity resources, stands at the forefront of global biodiversity conservation efforts. However, existing evidence indicates that the Russian-Ukrainian war has caused great damage to the environment of Ukraine, thus may do great harm to its biodiversity. Against this backdrop, we aim to investigate the war’s impact on Ukraine’s environment. we focused on biodiversity loss in five regions of Ukraine (Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions). Utilizing nighttime light remote sensing data, land use data, species distribution data from the GBIF database, using MaxEnt model, we simulated species’ suitable habitats. Then we quantified regional biodiversity conservation values based on suitable habitat data and analyzed the spatial patterns of war-induced biodiversity damage through overlay analysis. We find that: (1) from January 2022 to October 2024, the war was concentrated in areas of high conservation value; (2) biodiversity was significantly impacted, with high-intensity warfare destroying 13.11% of high-value conservation regions, mainly in Kherson and Donetsk; (3) by protecting two species’ suitable habitat, we can conserve almost all areas of high protection value gathering hotspots; based on these findings, we proposed targeted conservation recommendations for Ukraine’s post-war restoration.