Projection of climate change effects on the potential distribution of Abeliophyllum distichum in Korea

Abstract

Changes in biota, species distribution range shift and catastrophic climate influence due to recent global warming have been observed during the last century. Since global warming affects various sectors, such as agriculture and vegetation, it is important to predict more accurate impact of future climate change. The purpose of this study is to examine the observed distribution of Abeliophyllum distichum in the Korean peninsula. For this purpose, two period (present and future) climate data were used. Mean data between 1950 and 2000, were used as the present value and the year 2050 and 2080 data from A1B senario in IPCC SRES were used for the future value. Potential habitation is analyzed by MaxEnt(Maximum Entropy model), and Abeliophyllum distichum’s coordinates data were used as a dependent variable and independent variables are composed of environmental data such as BioClim, altitude, aspect and slope. The result of six types GCM mean calculation, the potential habitability decreased by 40-60% of the average existing distribution. The methodogies and results of this resarch can be applicable to the climate changing adaptation stratiegies for the biodiversity conservation.