Datos de presencia puntual de Polylepis australis que respaldan el articulo titulado: Conservation and restoration assessments of the Southernmost Polylepis forests based on current and future habitat suitability

Abstract

Palaeontological studies of the high-Andean Polylepis forests show their great sensitivity to past climate change presumably due to the low dispersal capacity of the dominant forest forming trees and complex topography which in many areas limit latitudinal and elevational migrations. It is likely that Polylepis forests will also be sensitive to future climate change due to present-day human impact. Here we attempt to provide infor-mation that will help prioritize Polylepis forests conservation and huge present-day for-est restoration efforts. Under the hypothesis that many areas which are now suitable for Polylepis forests will not have suitable climates in the future we generated present and future potential distribution models using the maximum entropy algorithm implemented by Maxent 3.4.3 software. We then present a map with only areas where both present and future suitable habitat is available. We chose P. australis as a model species, used 453 known presence locations, and estimated a present potential distribution of 13 923 km2. Simulation of future climates showed very important poleward retractions in the equator-wise edges and small upward migrations and retractions of modelled suitable habitat resulting in a loss of 4 596 km2 (areas of habitat loss). Our results highlight the importance of climate change simulations to help inform potential areas for forest resto-ration efforts, as in our chosen model large tracks of potentially good present habitat are lost in the future.