Arid Zone Research ›› 2025, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (1): 97-107.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2025.01.09

• Plant Ecology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Potential geographic distribution of the three species of Cuscuta in China under climate scenarios

QU Yuyang(), WEN Tiantian, LIU Jiamin, YAN Ping()   

  1. College of Life Sciences, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, Xinjiang, China
  • Received:2024-08-14 Revised:2024-10-21 Online:2025-01-15 Published:2025-01-17
  • Contact: YAN Ping E-mail:1071408474@qq.com;1229016867@qq.com

Abstract:

Cuscuta plants are classified as quarantine plants due to their parasitic stem characteristics, and it is important to investigate the potential spatial distribution characteristics of Cuscuta plants in China for effective control. In this study, three species of Cuscuta (C. cupulata, C. campestris and C. monogyna) were selected as the research subjects. Based on 932 records of geographical distribution, 144 records of field investigation and 20 environmental variables, the maximum entropy model and ArcGIS were used to predict potential niche distributions under current and future scenarios (2041-2060, 2061-2080) considering of greenhouse gas emissions from SSP2-4.5. The suitable areas for the 3 species of Cuscuta under the current climate conditions and land use date were analyzed. The results showed that: (1) The area under the work characteristic curve (AUC) for all subjects was greater than 0.9 indicating high prediction accuracy. (2) The main environmental factors affecting the distribution of the three species of Cuscuta within their habitable zones with a relatively small contribution rate from topographic factors varied, but all of them were dominated by climatic factors. (3) Currently C. cupulata and C. monogyna distributions are concentrated in northern China, while C. campestris is not only distributed in the north, but also concentrated in southeastern China, and in future scenarios they will expand further northward. (4) In the current period, most land areas suitable for these three species of Cuscuta have already been exploited.

Key words: Cuscuta, MaxEnt model, potential suitable area, overlap of the suitable habitats, land use type