Hosseini et al. Journal of Ecology and Environment (2018) 42:27 Journal of Ecology https://doi.org/10.1186/s41610-018-0083-2 and Environment RESEARCH Open Access Modeling potential habitats for Pergularia tomentosa using maximum entropy model and effect of environmental variables on its quantitative characteristics in arid rangelands, southeastern Iran Seyed Hamzeh Hosseini1*, Hossein Azarnivand2, Mahdi Ayyari3, Mohammad Ali Zare Chahooki2, Reza Erfanzadeh4, Sonia Piacente5 and Reza Kheirandish6 Abstract Background: Predicting the potential habitat of plants in arid regions, especially for medicinal ones, is very important. Although Pergularia tomentosa is a key species for medicinal purposes, it appears in very low density in the arid rangelands of Iran, needing an urgent ecological attention. In this study, we modeled and predicted the potential habitat of P. tomentosa using maximum entropy, and the effects of environmental factors (geology, geomorphology, altitude, and soil properties) on some characteristics of the species were determined. Results: The results showed that P. tomentosa was absent in igneous formation while it appeared in conglomerate formation. In addition, among geomorphological units, the best quantitative characteristics of P. tomentosa was belonged to the conglomerate formation-small hill area (plant aerial parts = 57.63 and root length = 30.68 cm) with the highest electrical conductivity, silt, and CaCO3 content. Conversely, the species was not found in the mountainous area with igneous formation. Moreover, plant density, length of roots, and aerial parts of the species were negatively correlated with soil sand, while positive correlation was observed with CaCO3, EC, potassium, and silt content. The maximum entropy was found to be a reliable method (ROC = 0.91) for predicting suitable habitats for P. tomentosa. Conclusion: These results suggest that in evaluating the plant’s habitat suitability in arid regions, contrary to the importance of the topography, some environmental variables such as geomorphology and geology can play the main role in rangeland plants’ habitat suitability. Keywords: Arid rangelands, Environmental variables, Quantitative plant characteristics, Habitat suitability, Maximum entropy, Pergularia tomentosa * Correspondence: [email protected]; [email protected] 1Department of Plant Biology, University of Jiroft, Jiroft, Kerman Province, Iran Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s). 2018 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Hosseini et al. Journal of Ecology and Environment (2018) 42:27 Page 2 of 13 Background (Kumar et al. 2009; Hosseini et al. 2013; Phillips et al. In arid rangelands of Iran, medicinal plants such as Per- 2006; Byeon et al. 2018; Kumar et al. 2015; Jung et al. gularia tomentosa (from the Apocynaceae family, Ascle- 2016). In this regard, maximum entropy (Maxent) is one piadeae) have a great value for local inhabitants and of the best models for evaluating the relationships be- potential use in the pharmaceutical industry (Hosseini tween the existence of species and environmental fac- Kahnouj et al. 2017). Consequently, this plant is an im- tors, especially for endangered plant species portant species in southern and southeastern Iran (Solta- (Gogol-Prokurat 2011). Maxent is an empirical model nipur 2005). This plant is also native to other countries for the occurrences of species in response to environ- in arid regions such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Afghanistan, mental prediction factors using statistically derived Pakistan, and Sudan, and different uses were reported curves for the plant species’ ecological tolerances (Gui- around the world (e.g., Babaamer et al. 2012; Al-Said et san et al. 2007; Warren and Seifert 2011). al. 2002). P. tomentosa is a plant which found widely in some Traditional medicinal uses of P. tomentosa include parts of the Middle East (Gallacher and Hill 2006; tanning (Heneidak et al. 2006), depilation (Bellakhdar Chaudhary and Le Houérou 2006; Al-Rowaily et al. 1998), as an abortifacient, for scorpion bites and poul- 2015), but based on field visits and our previous research tices on snake bites (Babaamer et al. 2013; Hammiche (Erfanzadeh et al. 2014; Erfanzadeh and Hosseini Kahnuj and Maiza 2006), for addressing tuberculosis and mol- 2015; Hosseini 2016), negligible percentage of the east- luscicidal activity (Hussein et al. 1999), for treating con- ern arid rangelands of Iran is vegetated by this plant. In stipation (Arafa et al. 2006), as an anti-inflammatory addition, there are disturbing reports about the conser- (Al-Jabri 2013), and mixed with salt to remove hair from vation status of this plant in other countries, particularly infected skin areas (Al-Said et al. 2002). According to in the Horn of Africa (Goyder 2006). Therefore, the previous studies, this species has evident effects such as main aims of this study were to identify and predict the antidermatophytic activity (Shinkafi 2014), anticancer suitable habitat for P. tomentosa based on the geomor- agent (Piacente et al. 2009), insect repellant (Green et al. phological, geological factors, and soil physicochemical 2011), antioxidant (Yakubu et al. 2015), and fungicide characteristics using statistical analysis and Maxent (Bekheet et al. 2011). model. We also investigated the effects of environmental Despite several useful applications in southern and factors on some quantitative morphological characteris- southeastern Iran, a low percentage of the rangeland tics of the plant species (height of aerial parts, length of surface is naturally vegetated with P. tomentosa. Our roots, length of leaves, length of fruits, number of seeds, field survey confirmed that this species were being used and density). by native people while the species had not a salient dis- tribution. Moreover, the plant’s survival encounters se- Methods vere limitations due to inhabitants uproot the plant to Study area meet their needs. Hence, conservation measures to pro- This research was conducted in the rangelands of Kah- tect the remaining plant individuals and to increase their nouj, Kerman Province, Iran (57° 42′ to 57° 46′ E; 28° 02′ numbers are essential. to 28° 06′ N) (Fig. 1) with a surface of 6771 ha. According It is well known that the conservation and extension to the Domarton’s climatic classification, the climate is of plant species without identifying their ecological arid. The minimum monthly average temperature is 0 °C needs are not acceptable. Our literature review showed in January, rising to a maximum of 51 °C in July (Erfanza- that ecological studies on this species are scarce. The deh et al. 2014). The variation in elevation in this region is only ecological study on P. tomentosa in Iran demon- about 600 m (500–1100 m). The aboveground vegetation strated that the canopy of shrubby plants has significant is mostly dominated by annuals in spring and shrubs in effect in the improvement of soil seed bank richness and summer (Erfanzadeh and Hosseini Kahnuj 2015). The density of P. tomentosa (Hosseini 2016). In another studied rangelands included Chah Godari, Koohe Sorkh, study, Al-Rowaily et al. (2015) showed that this plant is and Chah Pizg Janahmad Shahryari (Table 1). unpalatable for animals and livestock grazing could not There are large groups of rangeland beneficiaries in negatively affect the species in Saudi Arabia. southeastern Iran concentrated around this area, includ- Ecological niche models are used to determine correla- ing three cities, Kahnouj, Faryab, and Jiroft. The region tive analysis of the environmental factors for predicting has rich and diverse natural resources. Therefore, given ecological requirements and relative suitability of habi- these conditions and our previous studies, this case tats (Warren and Seifert 2011). Different plant species study was selected, featuring two geological formations distribution models (ENFA, Maxent, GLM, and CLI- (conglomerate and igneous) and five geomorphological MEX) are employed by researchers for the incidence units (small hill area, big hill area, bare plain, flood plain, data to predict suitable conditions for improving plants and mountain). Hosseini et al. Journal of Ecology and Environment (2018) 42:27 Page 3 of 13 Fig. 1 Study area in the Kahnouj rangelands. The map on the left is based on geological formations (conglomerate and igneous formations). The map on the right is according to the five geomorphological units At the first step, three geomorphological units are dis- Table 1 presents the areas belonging to each geological tinguished in the study area (mountain, hill, and plain). formation and geomorphological unit (Table 1). All The hill area was divided into two smaller units based methods and measured parameters regarding P. tomen- on their heights. The plain was also dividable into bare tosa appear in a diagram (Fig. 2). plain and flood plain according to their slopes (bare plain: 3–8% slope; flood plain: about 2% slope).