Ecological niche modeling to find potential habitats of Vanda thwaitesii, a notified endangered orchid of Western Ghats, India
Main Article Content
Abstract
Conservation planning of a threatened species essentially requires information on its present population and extent of distribution. Ecological niche modeling (ENM) is a suitable machine learning technique to predict potential distribution of a species enabling to identify suitable habitat for conservation action. The present study undertook distribution modeling of Vanda thwaitesii, a notified endangered orchid species of the Indian Western Ghats and Sri Lanka using maxent software. Geographical coordinates of 54 occurrence points at 1 km resolutions gathered during the study were utilized for modeling. A total of 37 variables including bioclimatic, topographical, and seasonal climate subjected to principal component analysis extracted into three components based on temperature and precipitation. Four representative variables from each component in all possible combinations resulted consistent output showing distribution of the species extending from Gavi in Periyar Tiger Reserve of Kerala to Chikkamagalur of Karnataka. Habitat suitability was confined to the cooler regions receiving an average 3,400 mm annual mean precipitation, 22.70C annual mean temperature, and 290 mm summer precipitation. A total of 2,557 km2 in Kerala and Karnataka mostly outside protected forests demonstrated as the highly suitable habitats. Silent Valley National Park, Idukki Wildlife Sanctuary, Periyar Tiger Reserve, and Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary in addition to a few reserve forests hold sufficient area for reinforcement of diversity of V. thwaitesii from vulnerable locations. The present study revealed niche modeling as a useful tool to find suitable habitats for V. thwaitesii in the Western Ghats.
Article Details
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors own the copyright to the articles published in JoTT. This is indicated explicitly in each publication. The authors grant permission to the publisher Wildlife Information Liaison Development (WILD) Society to publish the article in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. The authors recognize WILD as the original publisher, and to sell hard copies of the Journal and article to any buyer. JoTT is registered under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY), which allows authors to retain copyright ownership. Under this license the authors allow anyone to download, cite, use the data, modify, reprint, copy and distribute provided the authors and source of publication are credited through appropriate citations (e.g., Son et al. (2016). Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of the southeastern Truong Son Mountains, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(7): 8953–8969. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2785.8.7.8953-8969). Users of the data do not require specific permission from the authors or the publisher.
References
Adhikari, D., D.B.K. Reshi, S.S Samant, A. Chettri, K. Upadhaya, M.A. Shah, P.P. Singh, R. Tiwary, K. Majumdar, A. Pradhan, M.L. Thakur, N. Salam, Z. Zahoor, M.H. Mir, Z.A. Kaloo & S.K. Barik (2018). Inventory and characterization of new populations through ecological niche modelling improve threat assessment. Current Science 114(3): 519–531.
Adhikari, D., S.K. Barik & K. Upadhaya (2012). Habitat distribution modelling for reintroduction of Ilex khasiana Purk., a critically endangered tree species of north eastern India. Ecological Engineering 40: 37–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2011.12.004
Augustine, J. (1995). Kew record specimen barcode 59877.00; http://specimens.kew.org/herbarium/59877.000; accessed on 17/03/2023
Agustini, V., L.I. Zebua & N. Wenda (2016). Short Communication: Inventory of native orchids in Makki Sub-District, Lanny Jaya, Papua, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 17(1): 301–305. https://doi.org/10.13057/BIODIV/D170141.
Bachman, P.S., R. Field, T. Reader, D. Raimondo, J. Donaldson, G.E. Schatz & E.N. Lugaadha (2019). Progress, challenges and opportunities for Red Listing. Biological Conservation 234: 45–55.
Buchhorn, M., L. Bertels, B. Smets, B. De Roo, M. Lesiv, N.E. Tsendbazar, D. Masiliunas & L. Li (2020). Copernicus Global Land Service: Land Cover 100m: Version 3 Globe 2015–2019: algorithm theoretical basis document. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3938968
Deb, C.R., N.S. Jamir & P.Z. Kikon (2017). Distribution prediction model of a rare orchid species (Vanda bicolor Griff.) using small sample size. American Journal of Plant Sciences 8(6): 1388–1398. https://doi.org/10.4236/ajps.2017.86094
Decruse, S.W. (2014). Extended distribution of Vanda wightii Rchb.f., an endangered orchid of Western Ghats revealed by ecological niche modeling. The Journal of the Orchid Society of India 28: 15–21.
Elith, J., S.J. Phillips, T. Hastie, M. Dudik, Y.E. Chee & C.J. Yates (2011) A statistical explanation of MaxEnt for ecologists. Diversity and Distributions 17(1): 43–57. https://doi.org/ 10.1111/j.1472-4642.2010.00725.x
Graham, C.H. & R.J. Hijmans (2006) A comparison of methods for mapping species ranges and species richness. Global Ecology and Biogeography 15: 578–587. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-8238.2006.00257.x
Jalal, J.S. & P. Singh ( 2017). Ecological niche modelling for conservation of Habenaria Suaveolens Dalzell, an endangered orchid species endemic to Western Ghats: A case study. Journal of the Orchid Society of India 31: 77–83.
Junior, P.D.M & C.C. Nóbrega (2018). Evaluating co-linearity effects on species distribution models: an approach based on virtual species simulation. PLoS ONE 13(9): e0202403. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202403
Kolanowska, M. (2013). The naturalization status of African Spotted Orchid (Oeceoclades maculata) in Neotropics. Plant Biosystems-An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology 148 (5): 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/11263504.2013.824042
Lughadha, E.N., S.P. Bachman, T.C.C. Leao, F. Forest, J.M. Halley, J.Moat, C. Acedo, K.L. Bacon, R.F.A. Brewer, G. Gâteblé, S.C. Gonçalves, R. Govaerts, P.M. Hollingsworth, I. Krisai-Greilhuber, E.J. de Lirio, P.G.P. Moore, R. Negrão, J.M. Onana, L.R. Rajaovelona, H. Razanajatovo, P.B. Reich, S.L. Richards, M.C. Rivers, A. Cooper, J. Iganci, G.P. Lewis, E.C. Smidt, A. Antonelli, G.M. Mueller & B.E. Walker (2020). Extinction risk and threats to plants and fungi. Plants, People, Planet 2: 389–408. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10146
Mace, G.M. & R. Lande (1991). Assessing extinction threats: toward a reevaluation of IUCN threatened species categories. Conservation Biology 5(2): 148–157. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.1991.tb00119.x
Master, L.L. (1991). Assessing threats and setting priorities for conservation. Conservation Biology 5(4): 559–563.
MOEF (2009). Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. Notification 15 April 2009. The Gazette of India No. 648, 4 pp.
Moran, D. & K. Kanemoto (2017). Identifying species threat hotspots from global supply chains. Nature Ecology and Evolution 1: 0023. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-016-0023
Murienne, J., E. Guilbert & P. Grandcolas (2009). Species’ diversity in the New Caledonian endemic genera Cephalidiosus and Nobarnus (Insecta: Heteroptera: Tingidae), an approach using phylogeny and species’ distribution modelling. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 97: 177–184. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2008.01184.x
Naimi, B., N.A.S. Hamm, T.A. Groen, A.K. Skidmore & A.G. Toxopeus (2014). Where is positional uncertainty a problem for species distribution modelling? Ecography 37(2): 191–203. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2013.00205.x
Peterson, A.T.J., R.G. Pearson, R.P. Anderson, E. Martinez-Meyer, M. Nakamura & M.B. Araujo (2011). Ecological Niches and Geographic Distributions. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 328 pp.
Phillips, S.J., R.P. Anderson & R.E. Schapire (2006). Maximum entropy modeling of species geographic distributions. Ecological Modeling 190(3–4): 231–259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2005.03.026
Phillips, S.J. & M. Dudik (2008). Modeling of species distribution with Maxent: New extensions and a comprehensive evaluation. Ecography 31(2): 161–175. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0906-7590.2008.5203.x
POWO (2021). Plants of the World Online: Orchidaceae https://powo.science.kew.org/results?q=orchidaceae accessed on 25 Decemeber 2021.
Radosavljevic, A. & R.P. Anderson (2014). Making better MAXENT models of species distributions: Complexity, overfitting and evaluation. Journal of Biogeography 41(4): 629–643. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.12227
Romadlon, M.A., G.W. Nugroho & A. Pitoyo (2021). Population, habitat characteristic, and modeling of Endangered Orchid, Paphiopedilum javanicum in Mount Lawu, Java, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 22: 1996–2004. https://doi.org/10.13057/biodiv/d220448
Sathishkumar, C. & P.C. Sureshkumar (1998). The reappearance of Vanda thwaitesii J.D. Hook (Orchidaceae). Rheedea 8: 249–253.
Singh, S.K., M. Sharma & A. Pandey (2017). Biodiversity - threats and conservation, pp. 282–316. In: Gurjar, B.R. Anil Kumar & J.N. Govil (eds.). Environmental Sciences & Engeneering. Vol. 2: Biodiversity and Conservation. Studium Press LLC, USA.
Štípková, Z., D. Romportl & P. Kindlmann (2020). Which Environmental Factors Drive Distribution of Orchids? A Case Study from South Bohemia, Czech Republic, pp. 1–13. In: Merillon, J.M., H. Kodja (eds.). Orchids Phytochemistry, Biology and Horticulture. Reference Series in Phytochemistry. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11257-8_27-1
Wang, O., Y. Xu, Z. Lu, D. Bao, Y. Guo, J. Lu, K. Zhang, H. Liu, H. Meng, X. Qiao, H. Huang & M. Jiang (2014). Disentangling the effects of topography and space on the distributions of dominant species in a subtropical forest, Chinese Science Bullettin 59(35): 5113–5122. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-014-0453-9
Wani, I.A., S. Verma, S. Mushtaq, A.A. Alsahli, M.N. Alyemeni, M. Tariq & S. Pant (2021). Ecological analysis and environmental niche modeling of Dactylorhiza hatagirea (D. Don) Soo: a conservation approach for critically endangered medicinal orchid. Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences 28(4): 2109–2122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.01.054.
Warghat, A.R., P.K. Bajpai, R.B. Srivastava, O.P. Chaurasia & H. Sood (2016). Population genetic structure and conservation of small fragmented location of Dactylorhiza hatagirea in Ladakh region of India. Scientia Horticulturae 164: 448–454. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.scienta.2013.09.044
Warren, D.L. & S.N. Seifert (2011). Ecological niche modeling in Maxent: the importance of model complexity and the performance of model selection criteria. Ecological Applications 21(2): 335–342. https://doi.org/10.1890/10-1171.1
Xu, D., Z. Zhuo, R. Wang, M. Ye & B. Pu (2019). Modeling the distribution of Zanthoxylum armatumin China with MaxEnt modeling. Global Ecology and Conservation 19: 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2019.e00691