Prosopis juliflora (Swartz) DC. invasion in protected areas of India under climate change

Abstract

Globally invasive alien plants pose a serious threat to biodiversity and are invading protected areas. However, information regarding the potential risk of invasive alien species in protected areas is very limited in India. Therefore, the aim of the study was to examine the potential risks of P. juliflora invasions under projected climate change. We used P. juliflora climate suitability maps based on our previous study using the MaxEnt species distribution model and investigated how P. juliflora invasion may change inside and outside the protected areas by 2050 under two climate change scenarios, representative concentration pathways (RCP) 2.6 and 8.5. The findings of the study suggest that the overall area of P. juliflora suitability in the protected areas will increase by 2050. Further, we found that several protected areas containing relatively high vertebrate diversity are located in climatically suitable areas for P. juliflora. The study findings encourage management efforts to manage the spread of P. juliflora invasion in the selected protected areas of India to protect and conserve the threatened vertebrates' habitats.