Climatic ecological suitability and potential distribution for Boletus edulis in mountainous areas of Western Sichuan Plateau, China

Abstract

The ecological climate suitability of Boletus edulis was systematically analyzed in mountainous areas of the Western Sichuan Plateau using DEM, land cover data and meteorological data from 52 weather stations in Sichuan Province and four weather stations in other provinces. Factors such as temperature, precipitation and vegetation cover were selected as the regionalization index to analyze the potential spatial distribution of B. edulis in Western Sichuan Plateau by GIS technology. The results showed that the northern boundary of potential distribution area for B. edulis was near 32° N, the upper and lower limits of the altitude were about 800 m and 3000 m. The total distribution area was 2863000 hm2, accounting for about 9.7% of the whole study area. The Panxi area at south of 29° N was the main distribution area, accounting for about 90% of all potential distribution areas. Among the main distribution area, the suitable area was about 20%, and the remaining is the secondary suitable area. The suitable area was mainly distributed in the Anning River basin at the elevation of 1000 m to 2600 m in East of the Yalong River in the Panxi area. The secondary suitable area was mainly located in forest area extending upward and downward from suitable area at an altitude of about 3000 m and 800 m, respectively. The unsuitability areas were the alpine regions at altitude above 3000 m and the dry-hot valley regions at altitude below 800 m.