Abstract
Russian-olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia) is a species native to southern Europe and central and eastern Asia. This species plays an important role in urban landscape design because of its rapid growth, resistance in harsh climates and tolerance to human-caused pressure. Understanding its potential dispersal and restricting parameters are the first steps toward the sustainable use of this species. Here, we used Species Distribution Models to predict the potential distribution of Russian-olive in Iran climate and estimate the possible limiting factors for its spread. Our results highlighted the importance of environmental variables including climatic factors, soil, and lithology in the distribution of this species throughout the country. According to these results, suitable habitats for Russian-olive are located in the north of Iran along the Alborz and Koppeh-Dagh mountain ranges. Therefore, the suitable habitats for this species are limited to only nine percent of the country. A habitat suitability map can be used to evaluate future developments in urban areas and predict the dispersal range of Russian-olive in Iran. Our results show that Russian-olive can be used to create new green spaces in urban climates in the northern regions of Iran.
Highlights
The Middle East and North Africa are home to five percent of Earth’s human population
The results of modeling evaluation based on the True Skill Statistic (TSS) values showed that the combination of models performed relatively better than each individual model
A model evaluation test showed that ensemble model performed better than other distribution models
Summary
The Middle East and North Africa are home to five percent of Earth’s human population. Only one percent of the global freshwater resources is located in Middle Eastern and North African countries (Djuma et al 2016). Water scarcity looms large across the region (Al-Ansari and Knutsson 2011; Al-Ansari et al 2014; Abbas et al 2018). To complicate the problem even further, population growth and political tensions threaten the sustainability of existing water resources in the Middle East and North Africa (Djuma et al 2016). Making use of different water sources and enhancing the resilience of water supply is crucial to meet the needs of the increasing urban population (Bichai et al 2015). The environmental damage associated with urban devel-
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