Print PageClimate change, trade, and alien invasive species pose important conservation challenges to protecting native species and habitats. Species are crossing borders at alarming and unprecedented rates, with Pueraria montana (kudzu) being a prime example. We used existing climate datasets for the globe to project potential climate change into the future and geographically beyond the current location data we have for kudzu in the United States. These fine scale projections, along with new species distribution modeling techniques to forecast the potential extent of invasive species, can provide useful information to aide conservation and invasive species management efforts. We created habitat suitability maps for P. montana under current climatic conditions. We projected these models geographically into Canada and up to 30 years in the future using potential average conditions. We examined how the potential distribution of this species will be affected by changing climate, and the management implications associated with these changes.
Results/Conclusions
Our models indicated that P. montana may increase its distribution particularly in the Northeast with climate change and may decrease in other areas. We also were able to predict potentially vulnerable locations in Canada. International survey and modeling efforts may be useful to create watch lists of invaders targeted at the leading edges of the invasion to prevent them from spreading across borders.
