SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF POA SCABERULA (POACEAE) ALONG THE ANDES

LIDIA R. SCRIVANTI; AM ANTÓN

Heliyon

Elsevier BV

Año: 2019

2405-8440

Mountains support a great diversity of species and habitat types. Grasslands are the dominant landscape in the Andes and play an important ecological role but are threatened by climatic change and human activities, among others factors. The spatial distribution of species that compose it and the ecological and evolutionary factors of spatial biodiversity patterns are few known. Poa L. (Poaceae) is the largest genera widely diversified and distributed in the Andes and P. scaberula Hook. f. is distributed from North America to tip of South America shows great phenotypic plasticity mediated by environmental factors. However, the impact of environmental variables on the limits of the spatial distribution of the species is unknown. Based on high-resolution climatic data, we modeled the current suitable habitat for P. scaberula and identify the main climatic variables that best predict the potential distribution and to assess the species status in the predicted habitats through herbarium data and relate it with species distribution models. The models showed that P. scaberula has suitable habitat of ca. 162.747 km2 along the Andes and high elevation regions. Mean cold hardiness, water vapor pressure and temperature seasonality were the most influential variables with 68.5% contribution to the models. Low temperatures in the coldest period, humidity and seasonality of temperatures influence their distribution in high elevation areas. The areas of greatest suitability were identified geographically, which were those with the highest occurrence of the species. The information gained from this study can assist the identification of suitable areas where the species is most sensitive to climate change as well as other human activities and contribute in assessing the conservation status of Andean grassland on a regional scale.