Geographical distribution simulation and comparative analysis of Carpinus viminea and C. londoniana

Abstract

As valuable landscape plants, hornbeams are extensively planted around the world, including in America, Britain, and France. However, in Asia, and China in particular, these trees still grow in natural habitats and rarely used for landscaping purposes. In this study, we examined differences in the ecological niches of two hornbeam species Carpinus viminea and C. londoniana, which are widely distributed in China and neighboring countries. On the basis of actual geographical coordinates, we used Maxent software to simulate distribution ranges of these two trees according to current suitable areas and used these data to predict their potential distributions in response to future climate change. Our findings provide a theoretical basis that will contribute in guiding the resource conservation, introduction and domestication, species identification, phylogeography, and landscape application of C. viminea and C. londoniana.