Potential distribution range and conservation strategies for the endangered species Amygdalus pedunculata

Abstract

The endangered shrub species Amygdalus pedunculata is distributed in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Shaanxi Province, China. However, little is known about its resource quantity and conservation status. A field investigation was conducted to determine the natural distribution range of A. pedunculata. Eight environmental factors were chosen to build models with the genetic algorithm for rule-set prediction (GARP) model and maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model. We predicted the potential distribution of A. pedunculata in China. Using four model evaluation metrics (Kappa, true skill statistic (TSS), overall accuracy and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC)), we assessed the predictive performance of both models. The Jackknife method was used to investigate the most important environmental factors for the distribution of A. pedunculata. The results indicated that both models were effective for predicting the distribution of A. pedunculata, but MaxEnt performed better than GARP in terms of the four evaluation metrics. The species was predicted to have a broad suitable area, which ranged from the south of Daxing'anling to the east of Helan Mountains and the Ulan Buh Desert. Amygdalus pedunculata is mainly distributed in the middle regions of Inner Mongolia, including Mu Us Sandy Land, Kubuqi desert, Otindag Sandy Land, and the Wulashan and Daqingshan Mountains. Low suitable sites occurred in some regions of Liaoning, Hebei, Shanxi and Shaanxi. Besides, and there were some sporadic low suitable areas in the middle regions of the •研究报告• © 800 生物多样性 Biodiversity Science 第 25 卷 Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Gansu Province. Variable importance analysis showed that the variables relevant to precipitation had more significant effects on the geographic distribution of A. pedunculata. These results have important implications for resource conservation and ecology including the revegetation of semi-arid ecosystems.

Predicting the Effects of Climate Change on the Suitable Habitat of Japanese Spanish Mackerel (Scomberomorus niphonius) Based on the Species Distribution Model

“…Therefore, the value range of AUC is [0.5-1]. When the AUC value is greater than 0.8, the model effect is great; when the AUC value is greater than 0.9, the model effect is excellent (Chu et al, 2017). The value of TSS is a combination of sensitivity and specificity indexes, and the negligence and substitution errors are considered.…”

Complete mitochondrial genome of the endangered Prunus pedunculata (Prunoideae, Rosaceae) in China: characterization and phylogenetic analysis

“…P. pedunculata is also a valuable germplasm resource for wild fruit and feed plants ( Wang et al., 2018c ). Notwithstanding its multiple application values, P. pedunculata has become endangered due to extreme environmental conditions and anthropogenic activities, such as overexploitation, overgrazing, and environmental pollution ( Chu et al., 2017 ). P. pedunculata has attracted significant attention ever since it was identified as a key protected wild plant (Class III) and endangered plant (Class II) of Inner Mongolia in the 1990s ( Zhao, 1992 ; Chu et al., 2017 ).…”

“…Notwithstanding its multiple application values, P. pedunculata has become endangered due to extreme environmental conditions and anthropogenic activities, such as overexploitation, overgrazing, and environmental pollution ( Chu et al., 2017 ). P. pedunculata has attracted significant attention ever since it was identified as a key protected wild plant (Class III) and endangered plant (Class II) of Inner Mongolia in the 1990s ( Zhao, 1992 ; Chu et al., 2017 ). In addition, P. pedunculata was classified as a national near-threatened species by the China Biodiversity Red List – Higher Plants ( Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People's Republic of China and Science, 2020 ) and been assessed by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species ( Rhodes and Maxted, 2016 ).…”

Intraspecific genetic variation and biogeographic history of the arid relict shrub Amygdalus pedunculata (Rosaceae) in northwest China

“…Amygdalus pedunculata is sparsely distributed in the arid areas of central and northern Inner Mongolia and northern Shaanxi in northwestern China. The habitat of A. pedunculata spans sunny and semi-sunny slopes in shallow mountain areas, sandy areas, low hills and arid and semi-arid grasslands (Chu et al 2017). This shrub species is native to arid and semi-arid deserts, occurs in grasslands that have experienced desertification, and has very important ecological functions in building pasture forests, windbreaks and sand fixation forests.…”

“…Amygdalus pedunculata has high ornamental, nutritional and economic value and could provide important genetic material for drought and disease resistance breeding of other species in the genus Amygdalus (Huang et al 2019). However, recently, natural A. pedunculata populations and its overall species distributions have been significantly reduced and fragmented by climate change and frequent anthropogenic disruption (Chu et al 2017, Li and Ma 2017). Amygdalus pedunculata is a protected plant with second conservation priority in Inner Mongolia.…”