Effects of Climate Change on the Distribution of Akebia quinata

Jun-Ming Zhang,Min-Li Song,Xin-Qiao Xu,Shang Su,Bin Li,Zhen-Jian Li,Wei Wang,Xiang-Yong Peng

doi:10.3389/fevo.2021.752682

Abstract

Akebia quinata, also known as chocolate vine, is a creeping woody vine which is used as Chinese herbal medicine, and found widely distributed in East Asia. At present, its wild resources are being constantly destroyed. This study aims to provide a theoretical basis for the resource protection of this plant species by analyzing the possible changes in its geographic distribution pattern and its response to climate factors. It is the first time maximum entropy modeling (MaxEnt) and ArcGIS software have been used to predict the distribution of A. quinata in the past, the present, and the future (four greenhouse gas emission scenarios, namely, SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, and SSP5-8.5). Through the prediction results, the impact of climate change on the distribution of A. quinata and the response of A. quinata to climate factors were analyzed. The results showed that the most significant climatic factor affecting the distribution pattern of A. quinata was the annual precipitation. At present, the suitable distribution regions of A. quinata are mainly in the temperate zone, and a few suitable distribution regions are in the tropical zone. The medium and high suitable regions are mainly located in East Asia, accounting for 51.1 and 81.7% of the worldwide medium and high suitable regions, respectively. The migration of the geometric center of the distribution regions of A. quinata in East Asia is mainly affected by the change of distribution regions in China, and the average migration rate of the geometric center in each climate scenario is positively correlated with the level of greenhouse gas emission scenario.

Highlights

Akebia quinata, known as chocolate vine, is a creeping woody vine widely distributed in East Asia (Wang et al, 2021)
The purpose of this study was (1) to find the key climatic factors that restrict the distribution of A. quinata; (2) to predict the distribution pattern of A. quinata under different climate scenarios; (3) to evaluate the impact of climate change on the distribution pattern of A. quinata; and (4) to predict the concentrated distribution region of A. quinata, analyze the migration of its concentrated distribution region, and explore the migration reasons of its concentrated distribution region
The average area under curve (AUC) of the MaxEnt model is 0.956 (Figure 2A), which indicates that the prediction accuracy is excellent, and the results can be used

Summary

Introduction

Known as chocolate vine, is a creeping woody vine widely distributed in East Asia (Wang et al, 2021). The protection of A. quinata is very urgent, and some reasonable and efficient protection schemes need to be implemented. This requires us to understand the suitable growth conditions of A. quinata and understand its geographical distribution and the impact of climate change upon it. At present, this species has only been reported in the fields of pharmacological activity (Sung et al, 2015; Lee et al, 2017), chemical composition (Jiang et al, 2006; Mimaki et al, 2007), and genome research (Li et al, 2016), but there are still gaps in knowledge around its geographical distribution and climate response

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion