Predicting Impacts of Future Climate Change on the Distribution of the Widespread Conifer Platycladus orientalis.

ABSTRACT: Chinese thuja (Platycladus orientalis) has a wide but fragmented distribution in China. It is an important conifer tree in reforestation and plays important roles in ecological restoration in the arid mountains of northern China. Based on high-resolution environmental data for current and future scenarios, we modeled the present and future suitable habitat for P. orientalis, evaluated the importance of environmental factors in shaping the species' distribution, and identified regions of high risk under climate change scenarios. The niche models showed that P. orientalis has suitable habitat of ca. 4.2×106 km2 across most of eastern China and identified annual temperature, monthly minimum and maximum ultraviolet-B radiation and wet-day frequency as the critical factors shaping habitat avail

SUBMITTER: Hu XG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4488561 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature