Potential Global Distribution of the Habitat of Endangered Gentiana rhodantha Franch: Predictions Based on MaxEnt Ecological Niche Modeling

Huihui Zhang, Xiao Sun, Guoshuai Zhang, Xinke Zhang, Yujing Miao, Min Zhang, Zhan Feng, Rui Zeng, Jin Pei () and Linfang Huang ()
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Huihui Zhang: Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Resources Conservation, State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100193, China
Xiao Sun: Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Resources Conservation, State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100193, China
Guoshuai Zhang: Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Resources Conservation, State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100193, China
Xinke Zhang: Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Resources Conservation, State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100193, China
Yujing Miao: Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Resources Conservation, State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100193, China
Min Zhang: Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Resources Conservation, State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100193, China
Zhan Feng: Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Resources Conservation, State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100193, China
Rui Zeng: College of Pharmacy, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu 610041, China
Jin Pei: School of Pharmacy, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 611137, China
Linfang Huang: Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Resources Conservation, State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100193, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-22

Abstract: Continued global climate and environmental changes have led to habitat narrowing or migration of medicinal plants. Gentiana rhodantha Franch . ex Hemsl. is a medicinal plant for ethnic minorities in China, and it has a remarkable curative effect in the treatment of lung-heat cough. However, its habitat is gradually decreasing, and the species has been listed as an endangered ethnic medicine due to excessive harvesting. Here, based on CMIP6 bioclimatic data and 117 species occurrence records, the maximum entropy model (MaxEnt), combined with ArcGIS technology, was applied to predict the potentially suitable habitats for G. rhodantha under different climate scenarios. The results showed that the most critical bioclimatic variables affecting G. rhodantha are the precipitation of the warmest quarter (Bio18) and the mean temperature of the coldest quarter (Bio11). The highly suitable habitats of G. rhodantha are mainly concentrated in Belt and Road (“B&R”) countries, including China, Bhutan, and Vietnam. However, under different climate change scenarios, the fragmentation extent of suitable habitats in China will generally increase, the suitable area will show a decreasing trend as a whole, the distribution center will shift to the northeast, and the distance will increase with time. Notably, the shrinkage of the high suitability area was the most obvious for the 2081–2100 SSP585 scenario, with a total of 358,385.2 km 2 . These findings contribute to the understanding of the geo-ecological characteristics of this species, and provide guidelines for the conservation, management, monitoring, and cultivation of G. rhodantha .

Keywords: conservation planning; environmental changes; Gentiana rhodantha; MaxEnt model; potential geographical distribution; suitable habitat (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
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