Which Environmental Factors Drive Distribution of Orchids? A Case Study from South Bohemia, Czech Republic
Abstract
Species distribution models are a useful tool applied in many branches of biology, especially when dealing with threatened organisms. In combination with GIS techniques, these models are especially important and valuable for predicting occurrence of rare species, for example, orchids.
Orchids are an endangered plant group, protected in the whole world. Questions of their conservation are therefore highly discussed, but not all factors affecting their survival and distribution are known so far.
Here we show an example of using SDMs for analysis of orchid species occurrence data from the region of South Bohemia in the Czech Republic. Our data were analyzed using the MaxEnt program, which produces species distribution maps and thus allows predicting potential occurrence of orchids in yet unknown localities.
This program also determines the environmental factors affecting species distribution. This is important for better protection of orchids, because we can improve management plans that are crucial for maintaining orchid localities to stay alive.
We determined the most important factors affecting studied species occurrence and areas, where new sites are most likely to be discovered. This approach can help us to find new localities of orchids and to understand which environmental factors influence the occurrence of these endangered plants.