Lorestan newt (Neurergus kaiseri) is an endemic species to the southern Zagros Mountains in Iran, and listed as critically endangered in the IUCN red list. The populations of this species are decreasing and face serious threats, such as habitat fragmentation and isolation, drought, climate change, human activities and diseases. In conservation planning of endangered species, identifying habitat requirements of the focal species is very important. The availability of habitat requirements for species is considered to be equivalent to their habitat suitability. In this study, habitat suitability of Neurergus kaiseri was evaluated using a MaxEnt modelling approach using environmental and climatic parameters such as elevation, slope, aspect, land cover, distance to the streams, village density, and 19 thermal and precipitation parameters (Bio1- Bio19). Based on the results derived from the MaxEnt model, the most important predictor parameters were related to Annual Precipitation, Precipitation Seasonality, Annual Mean Temperature, Elevation and Land Cover. The results showed that climatic parameters is very importance for this species and according to upcoming climate change it is necessary to develop comprehensive conservation planning in the study area. Analysis of seven climatic parameters in 31 years (1980-2010) revealed that minimum temperature increased 2.2°C and relative humidity decreased 9%. This climate change might have direct and indirect impacts on Lorestan Newt populations. Direct consequences of climate change can be expected because amphibians are more sensitive to climate change than other species. Because of their permeable skin, biphasic lifecycles and unshelled eggs, amphibians are extremely sensitive to small changes in temperature and moisture. In addition, the indirect effects of climate change such as the availability of water, will likely be more deleterious than the effects of temperature alone. The results of the model further revealed besides the known sites, additional potentially suitable habitats in the study area. Assessment of the conservation status using Gap Analysis revealed that currently none of the recorded sites of Lorestan newt was inside a protected area making this critically endangered species even more vulnerable. Key Words: Neurergus kaiseri , Habitat Suitability, Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt), Lorestan, Khuzestan, Climate Change, Gap Analysis.
