Multitemporal Land Use and Cover Analysis Coupled with Climatic Change Scenarios to Protect the Endangered Taxon Asphodelus bento-rainhae subsp. bento-rainhae

Abstract

Climate change and land use and land cover (LULC) change are impacting the species’ geographic distribution, causing range shifts and reducing suitable habitats. Asphodelus bento-rainhae subsp. bento-rainhae (AbR) is an endangered endemic plant restricted to Serra da Gardunha (Portugal), and knowledge of those changes will help to design conservation measures. MaxEnt was used to model AbR’s current distribution and project it into the future, 2050, using the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway SSP3-7. The Portuguese LULC maps from 1951–1980, 1995, 2007, and 2018 were used to assess and quantify LULC changes over time. The results showed that the AbR current predicted distribution matches its actual known distribution, which will not be affected by future predicted climate change. The significant LULC changes were observed during the study periods 1951–1980 to 2018, particularly between 1951–1980 and 1995. Scrubland and Agriculture decreased by 5% and 2.5%, respectively, and Forests increased by 4% in the study area. In the occurrence area, Agriculture increased, and Forests decreased between 1980 and 2018, due to Orchard expansion (34%) and declines in Chestnut (16.9%) and Pine (11%) areas, respectively. The use of species distribution models and the LULC change analysis contributed to understanding current and future species distribution. The LULC changes will have a significant impact on future species distribution. To prevent the extinction of this endemic species in the future, it is crucial to implement conservation measures, namely species monitoring, replantation, and germplasm conservation, in addition to guidelines for habitat conservation.