AUTHOR=Fu Chun , Peng Yaqin , Yang Fengrong , He Zhipeng , Ali Habib , Xu Danping 

TITLE=Potentially suitable geographical area for Colletotrichum acutatum under current and future climatic scenarios based on optimized MaxEnt model

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1463070

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2024.1463070

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Global climate warming has led to changes in the suitable habitats for fungi. <italic>Colletotrichum acutatum</italic>, a common fungus causing anthracnose disease, is widely distributed in southern China. Currently, research on the relationship between <italic>C. acutatum</italic> and environmental warming was limited. In this study, MaxEnt and ArcGIS software were used to predict the suitable habitats of <italic>C. acutatum</italic> under current and future climate conditions based on its occurrence records and environmental factors. The optimal MaxEnt model parameters were set as feature combination (FC) = lp and regularization multiplier (RM) = 2.6. Bio15, Bio12, Bio09, and Bio19 were identified as the main environmental factors influencing the distribution of <italic>C. acutatum</italic>. Under current climate conditions, <italic>C. acutatum</italic> was distributed across all continents globally, except Antarctica. In China, <italic>C. acutatum</italic> was primarily distributed south of the Qinling-Huaihe Line, with a total suitable area of 259.52 × 10<sup>4</sup> km<sup>2</sup>. Under future climate conditions, the potential suitable habitat area for <italic>C. acutatum</italic> was expected to increase and spread towards inland China. The results of this study provided timely risk assessment for the distribution and spread of <italic>C. acutatum</italic> in China and offer scientific guidance for monitoring and timely controlled of its distribution areas.</p>