Analysis of niche shift and potential suitable distributions of Dendrobium under the impact of global climate change

Dendrobium is a valuable traditional Chinese herb that contains active ingredients such as polysaccharides and alkaloids that have anti-aging, antioxidant, and immunomodulating effects. The appropriate distribution range of Dendrobium should be predicted from the perspective of ecological niche theory in order to preserve and utilize medicinal plant resources. In this study, Dendrobium nobile , Dendrobium officinale , and Dendrobium moniliforme were selected to predict the potential suitable distributions and ecological niche shifts. A comparison of 19 environmental variables of the three Dendrobium species revealed three climatic factors that differed significantly when the species were compared two at a time. The principal component analysis was carried out in order to screen seven climatic factors for ecological niche shift analysis. All three Dendrobium species were found to have a very similar ecological niche, but with a relatively small range of variability regarding certain climatic factors. Finally, the current and future suitable areas for these three Dendrobium species in China were predicted using the MaxEnt model and ArcGIS using the two representative concentration pathways (RCP 2.6 and 8.5). Overall, the analysis of the climatic factors’ comparisons, niche shift, and current and future suitable areas of these three Dendrobium species provides a basis for medicinal plant resource conservation and utilization, and our methods could be applied to the study of other similar valuable medicinal plants.