Study on the Distribution of Suitable Habitats for Coreopsis Invasive Plants in China under Climate Change

Climate change posing a serious threat to species distribution globally. Recently, climate change has substantially changed the distribution of invasive species. Coreopsis is a widely distributed invasive genus with strong adaptability, reproductive capacity and ability to growth well under wide range of conditions. The invasion of Coreopsis species has become a significant ecological issue in China. Therefore, this study, study used three climate change scenarios (SSP-126, SSP-245, SSP-585), along with MaxEnt modeling and ArcGIS, to identify the potential distribution areas and centroids of Coreopsis invasive plants in China. The results indicate temperature particularly, isotherm (BIO3) and the mean temperature of the warmest season and humidity were the major factor affecting distribution of Coreopsis. Human activities (HA) were also identified as major factor affecting the distribution of Coreopsis species. The results also indicated that suitable habitat Coreopsis drummondii has a largest area (4.138×106 km²), while Coreopsis verticillata has small suitable habitat area (9.53×105 km²). Under the current climate scenario, the six Coreopsis species are mainly distributed in southern China, but they are expected to migrate northward and to plateau regions under future climate scenarios. Moreover, the ecological and range overlap between Coreopsis grandiflora, Coreopsis lanceolata, Coreopsis grandiflora and Coreopsis tinctoria, is high. Therefore, these findings suggests that intense interspecific competition may occur between these adjacent species.