Global invasion risk assessment of prosopis juliflora at biome level: Does soil matter?

Mohammed A. Dakhil, Ali El-Keblawy, Mohamed A. El-Sheikh, Marwa Waseem A. Halmy, Taoufik Ksiksi, Walaa A. Hassan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Prosopis juliflora is one of the most problematic invasive trees in tropical and subtropical regions. Understanding driving forces affecting the potential global distribution would help in managing its current and future spread. The role of climate on the global spatial distribution of P. juliflora has been well studied, but little is known about the role of soil and human impacts as potential drivers. Here, we used maximum entropy (MaxEnt) for species distribution modelling to understand the role of climate (C), soil (S) and human impacts (H), C+S, and C+S+H in controlling the potential invasion range of P. juliflora, and to project its global potential invasive risk. We defined the top threatened global biomes, as predicted by the best-selected model. The incorporation of the edaphic factors improved the model performance and enhanced the accuracy of the outcome. Our findings revealed that the potential invasion risk increases with increases in mean temperature of the driest quarter (Bio9), soil alkalinity and clay fractions. Arid and semi-arid lands are at the highest risk of invasion than other moist biomes.

Original languageEnglish
Article number203
JournalBiology
Volume10
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2021

Keywords

  • Conservation priority
  • Global biomes
  • Habitat suitability
  • Invasion risk assessment
  • MaxEnt
  • Temperature variability

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Immunology and Microbiology
  • General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

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