Effects of future climate change on rare and endangered species in inner Mongolia, China: Vulnerability, priority conservation areas and sustainable conservation strategies

Rare and endangered species have narrow geographical distributions and are vulnerable to environmental changes. Studying the impact of future climate change on their distributions and identifying areas of high conservation priority are key to halting biodiversity loss. In this study, we combined a species distribution model with systematic conservation planning to simulate the suitable distributions of rare and endangered vascular plants and vertebrates in Inner Mongolia in the current and future (the 2050s), analyzed the vulnerability of species, and identified areas with high conservation priority. Currently, species richness (SR) of vascular plant was high in the Greater Khingan Mountains, and SR of vertebrates was high on the Hulunbuir Plateau, which are two species-rich areas. By 2050, 41.8