# Patterns of Orchid Diversity and Their Potential Habitat Under Climate Change in Chongqing, China

## TL;DR

This study explores how orchid diversity in Chongqing, China, is distributed and how climate change may affect their habitats in the future.

## Contribution

The study identifies key environmental factors and predicts future habitat shifts of orchids in Chongqing under climate change.

## Key findings

- Orchid distribution in Chongqing is 'high in the east and low in the west, high in the north and low in the south'.
- Orchid abundance peaks at low and middle altitudes (500–1499 m) with a unimodal vertical distribution.
- Future climate change is expected to reduce suitable orchid habitats and shift them to higher altitudes.

## Abstract

Orchids hold a pivotal position as climate change indicators due to their highly specialized biological traits. As a typical mountainous megacity, Chongqing is undergoing profound climatic changes, which have a rich diversity of orchids, but their distribution patterns and future changes under climate change remain unclear. Therefore, clarifying the distribution patterns of orchids in Chongqing and identifying the most suitable distribution areas under the current climate is particularly important.

Global climate problems and the sharp decline in biodiversity have attracted widespread attention. Orchids, as the “flagship” species of biodiversity, are important indicators of ecological changes. This study took Chongqing as the study area and conducted a comprehensive survey of orchids through field investigation combined with data review to clarify Chongqing’s diversity distribution pattern. The distribution of orchids was characterized by “high in the east and low in the west, high in the north and low in the south” horizontally. Vertically, the distribution was characterized by an obvious “unimodal distribution”, with higher abundance in the low and middle altitude areas of 500–1499 m. The minimum temperature of the coldest month (Bio6), isothermality (Bio3), altitude (Bio20), and precipitation of the wettest season (Bio16) were the main environmental factors affecting the distribution of the orchid habitat. The suitable habitat of orchids would be greatly reduced in the future (2070SSP-585), and the suitable habitat tends to migrate to the high-altitude areas; therefore, we should pay more attention to the conservation and sustainable use of orchid plant resources.