How do Environmental Variables Affect the Suitable Habitat of Medicinal Plants? A Case Study of Citrus medica L. var. sarcodactylis Swingle in China

Abstract

Citrus medica L. var. sarcodactylis Swingle (Rutaceae: Citrus) is one of the traditional bulk Chinese medicinal materials in China with the effects of bacteriostasis, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidation, anti-cancer cells, regulating the immun. In our paper, MaxEnt and ArcGIS were applied to simulate the suitable areas of C. medica L. var. sarcodactylis in China from the perspectives of bioclimate, soil, topographic factors and human activities Results showed that 1) temperature annual range (Bio7), annual precipitation (Bio12), human footprint (Hf), elevation (El) and precipitation seasonality (Bio15) were identified as the dominant environmental variables related to the distribution of C. medica L. var. sarcodactylis. The area of the total, most, moderately and poorly suitable habitat of C. medica L. var. sarcodactylis in China were 177.36×104 km2, 22.27×104 km2, 51.96×104 km2 and 103.13×104 km2 respectively. The range of the most suitable habitat was the narrowest, which was located in the middle east of Sichuan, western Chongqing in the upstream of the Yangtze River Basin, southern Guizhou and western Guangxi in the upstream of the Pearl River Basin, central and southern Yunnan and Southeast Tibet in the Middle-Lower reaches of the Southwest River Basin and western Taiwan.