Using species distribution modelling to improve conservation of medicinal plants in Southwest China

Southwest China represents a global biodiversity hotspot [1,2]. It is generally defined as the area that includes the Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Tibet and Chongqing [3]. Its complex and diverse topography, and varying climates, provide a partial explanation for the high biodiversity. So far, 25998 species and intraspecific taxa have been recorded [4]. The medicinal flora of Southwest China is composed of 5751 species [5]. While, the rich medicinal flora is under considerable conversion pressure with expanding human destructive exploration activities and economic development. Conservation strategies based on the geographic patterns of medicinal plant species richness, including the identification of meaningful floristic regions and priority areas for conservation, could improve the effectiveness of policy and management of medicinal flora in this area.

In this research, we produced distribution models at ˜10 km² resolution for 5751 medicinal plant species, using geo-referenced herbarium collections from this area, corrected for spatial bias using a null model, and detailed environmental variables, also using Bioclim model to predict the potential distribution areas for medicinal plants.

As a result, we identified five important aspects of medicinal plant species distribution in Southwest China: (1) seven medicinal species diversity hotspots; (2) major medicinal floristic rich regions; (3) priority areas for medicinal plants conservation; (4) the percentage remaining natural forest among the medicinal species rich areas; and (5) the estimated potential distribution with the climate data combined with the specimen records under the global warming image.

Acknowledgements: Zhenggang Zhang is acknowledged for technical assistance. This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31161140345 & 31400182), the Ministry of Education of China (B08044), and Minzu University of China (2015MDTD16C & YLDX01013).

Keywords: Southwest China, Species distribution model, Medicinal plants, Species diversity, Floristic regions, Systematic conservation planning, Conservation priority area.

References:

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