Influential environmental parameters contributing on tree Species distribution in two forests of the eastern Afromontane hotspot, Tanzania
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Date
2020
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tanzania Journal of Forestry and Nature Conservation
Abstract
Understanding
the
influence
of
environmental parameters in determining
tree species distribution and how it might
change over time is a vital issue for species
distribution modeling (SDM), yet it is poorly
addressed in most of tropical forests and has
not been addressed in the Eastern Arc
Mountains (EAMs). This study was
conducted with the objective of identifying
most influencial environmental parameters
contributing on tree species distribution in
East Usambara Forests (EUF) and
Udzungwa Mountain Forests (UMF) of the
EAMs, Tanzania. Novel modelling method
called Maximum Entropy Distribution
(Maxent, version 3.3.3k), was used to model
the distribution of eight most dominant tree
species based on the frequency of occurence
and
11
uncorrelated
environmental
variables. The drivers of species distribution
in EUF and UMF are mainly climatic and
edaphic factors. Climate change effects were
driven by all climatic variables followed by
edaphic variables while topographic factors
had no effect. Soil factors have shown
stronger effects in the UMF than in the EUF
while the effects of temperature and
precipitation were strong in both sites.
Further studies on physiological responses
and range shifts of selected species to
environmental change (e.g climate change)
within the EAMs are recommended.
Description
Journal Article
Keywords
Climate change, Eastern Arc Mountains, Maxent modeling, Tree species distribution