pp. 1511-1523
S&M3615 Research Paper of Special Issue https://doi.org/10.18494/SAM4571 Published: April 26, 2024 Modeling Habitat Suitability of the Climate-vulnerable Plant Thuja koraiensis in Response to Climate Change [PDF] Seung-Jae Lee, Jun-Gi Byeon, Jun-Soo Kim, Joon-hee Cho, and Seung-Hwan Oh (Received July 5, 2023; Accepted October 19,2023) Keywords: ensemble modeling, shared socioeconomic pathway (SSP), conservation, climate change
In this study, we predict the habitat suitability of Thuja koraiensis, an endemic plant species
on the Korean Peninsula, and establish management strategies for its conservation. To achieve
this, field surveys were conducted on the Korean Peninsula and northeastern China to determine
species occurrence points. An ensemble modeling approach was implemented, combining the
Random Forest, Generalized Boosted Model, and Generalized Linear Model algorithms, to
explore suitable habitats. Our results show that under current climate conditions, wide suitable
habitats can be found in South Korea. Furthermore, our analysis indicated that elevation had the
greatest impact on the availability of suitable habitats. On the basis of the shared socioeconomic
pathway data presented in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th
Assessment Report, changes in future habitat distribution were observed for the 2050s (2040–
2060) and 2070s (2060–2080). The results indicated a significant decrease in the availability of
suitable habitats in South Korea, while relatively wide suitable habitats were observed in North
Korea. In particular, the elevation of suitable habitat areas gradually increased, suggesting that
future suitable habitats may become isolated. These research findings substantiate the necessity
for implementing appropriate measures to conserve and manage the climate-vulnerable species
T. koraiensis to ensure its long-term preservation and sustainable management.
Corresponding author: Seung-Hwan OhThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Cite this article Seung-Jae Lee, Jun-Gi Byeon, Jun-Soo Kim, Joon-hee Cho, and Seung-Hwan Oh, Modeling Habitat Suitability of the Climate-vulnerable Plant Thuja koraiensis in Response to Climate Change, Sens. Mater., Vol. 36, No. 4, 2024, p. 1511-1523. |