Species distribution models: ecological explanation and prediction of an endemic and endangered plant species (Pterocarpus santalinus L.f.)

Pterocarpus santalinus L.f. (Red Sanders) is an endemic and endangered species largely confined to the southern portion of the Eastern Ghats, Andhra Pradesh, India. To understand its ecological and geographic distribution, we used ecological niche modelling (ENM) based on field sample-based distributional information, in relation to climatic and topographic datasets. Before modelling, hierarchical partitioning was used to optimize the choice of variables for better
prediction and reliability. We used three ENM approaches, namely GARP, Maxent and BIOCLIM for predicting potential areas of occurrence.