Prediction of Potential Suitable Distribution Areas for an Endangered Salamander in China

Climate change has been considered to pose critical threats for wildlife. During the past decade, species distribution models were widely used to assess the effects of climate change on the distribution of species' suitable habitats. Among all the vertebrates, amphibians are most vulnerable to...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animals (Basel) 2024-05, Vol.14 (9), p.1390
Main Authors: Tao, Jiacheng, Hu, Yifeng, Jiang, Jianping, Yang, Wanji, Zhao, Tian, Su, Shengqi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
amphibian
Amphibians
Analysis
Climate change
Climatic changes
Correlation analysis
distribution pattern
Endangered & extinct species
Endangered species
ENMeval
environmental factor
Geospatial data
maximum entropy
Precipitation (Meteorology)
Protection and preservation
Radiation
Reptiles & amphibians
Software
Topography
Variables
Vegetation
Wildlife conservation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Climate change has been considered to pose critical threats for wildlife. During the past decade, species distribution models were widely used to assess the effects of climate change on the distribution of species' suitable habitats. Among all the vertebrates, amphibians are most vulnerable to climate change. This is especially true for salamanders, which possess some specific traits such as cutaneous respiration and low vagility. The Wushan salamander ( ) is a threatened and protected salamander in China, with its wild population decreasing continuously. The main objective of this study was to predict the distribution of suitable habitat for using the ENMeval parameter-optimized MaxEnt model under current and future climate conditions. Our results showed that precipitation, cloud density, vegetation type, and ultraviolet radiation were the main environmental factors affecting the distribution of . Currently, the suitable habitats for are mainly concentrated in the Daba Mountains, including northeastern Chongqing and western Hubei Provinces. Under the future climate conditions, the area of suitable habitats increased, which mainly occurred in central Guizhou Province. This study provided important information for the conservation of . Future studies can incorporate more species distribution models to better understand the effects of climate change on the distribution of .
ISSN:2076-2615
2076-2615
DOI:10.3390/ani14091390