Publication Date:
2017-02-09
Description:
Testing climatic niche divergence and modeling habitat suitability under conditions of climate change are important for developing strategies to limit the introduction and expansion of alien invasive weeds (AIWs) and providing important ecological and evolutionary insights. We assessed climatic niches in both native and invasive ranges as well as habitat suitability under climate change for eight representative Chinese AIWs from the American continent. We used climatic variables associated with occurrence records and developed ecological niche models with Maxent. Interestingly, the climatic niches of all eight AIWs diverged significantly between the native and invasive ranges (the American continent and China). Furthermore, the AIWs showed larger climatic niche breadths in the invasive ranges than in the native ranges. Our results suggest that climatic niche shifts between native and invasive ranges occurred. Thus, the occurrence records of both native and invasive regions must be considered when modeling and predicting the spatial distributions of AIWs under current and future climate scenarios. Owing to high habitat suitability, AIWs were more likely to expand into regions of low latitude, and future climate change was predicted to result in a shift in the AIWs in Qinghai and Tibet (regions of higher altitude) as well as Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, and Gansu (regions of higher latitude). Our results suggest that we need measures to prevent and control AIW expansion at the country-wide level. In our study, niche divergence of Chinese AIWs between the American continent and China was quantified and changes in the habitat suitability of Chinese AIWs under climate change were examined. The results have broad ecological applications; they provide a solid basis for the use of ENMs and raise questions about the mechanistic underpinnings of broadscale geographic patterns. There was significant niche divergence for all eight Chinese AIWs between the American continent (native ranges) and China (invasive ranges). These eight AIWs may be closer to equilibrium in invasive range than they are in the native range. Furthermore, these AIWs had large ranges of climatically suitable habitats, enabling expansion in regions of low latitudes. Future climate change was predicted to result in a shift in the AIWs in Qinghai and Tibet (regions of higher altitude) as well as Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, and Gansu (regions of higher latitude), indicating the need for prevention and control measures for AIW invasion at the country-wide level.
Electronic ISSN:
2045-7758
Topics:
Biology
Permalink