ABSTRACT Understanding the role of climatic and ecological factors in limiting species to their distributions is becoming ever more important in a world where anthropogenic activities are increasingly threatening species persistence. Species with restricted distributions are often poorly known even though they may be most vulnerable to extinction. We investigated the influences of climate and ecology on the distribution of five understudied, endemic, rupicolous reptiles from the Soutpansberg Mountains in South Africa. Using Maxent, we developed ecological niche models that were used to provide baseline insights into the factors delimiting these species distributions. Results indicated that most species were limited by climatic factors, with the average temperature of the coolest quarter having the most influence on the majority of the species, where they were limited to areas with cooler temperatures. This suggests that they may be negatively affected by climate change in the future. Distribution maps revealed that there were no strong interspecific interactions influencing the distributions between the species investigated and identified potential new localities for two species. There was high endemic richness located in the western Soutpansberg and this is likely to have been driven by past climatic and erosion events. Overall this study highlighted that performing environmental niche models on understudied species can provide essential, baseline information on which to drive future research.

中文翻译：

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生态和气候对生物多样性热点地区受限制的紫红色爬行动物分布的影响

摘要 在人类活动日益威胁物种持久性的世界中，了解气候和生态因素在限制物种分布方面的作用变得越来越重要。分布受限的物种通常鲜为人知，即使它们可能最容易灭绝。我们调查了气候和生态对南非 Soutpansberg 山脉 5 种未充分研究的地方性红褐色爬行动物分布的影响。使用 Maxent，我们开发了生态位模型，用于为界定这些物种分布的因素提供基线见解。结果表明，大多数物种受到气候因素的限制，其中最冷季度的平均温度对大多数物种的影响最大，他们仅限于温度较低的地区。这表明他们未来可能会受到气候变化的负面影响。分布图显示，没有强烈的种间相互作用影响所调查物种之间的分布，并确定了两个物种的潜在新位置。位于 Soutpansberg 西部的地方性丰富，这很可能是由过去的气候和侵蚀事件驱动的。总的来说，这项研究强调，对研究不足的物种进行环境生态位模型可以提供必要的基线信息，以推动未来的研究。分布图显示，没有强烈的种间相互作用影响所调查物种之间的分布，并确定了两个物种的潜在新位置。位于 Soutpansberg 西部的地方性丰富，这很可能是由过去的气候和侵蚀事件驱动的。总的来说，这项研究强调，对研究不足的物种进行环境生态位模型可以提供必要的基线信息，以推动未来的研究。分布图显示，没有强烈的种间相互作用影响所调查物种之间的分布，并确定了两个物种的潜在新位置。位于 Soutpansberg 西部的地方性丰富，这很可能是由过去的气候和侵蚀事件驱动的。总的来说，这项研究强调，对研究不足的物种进行环境生态位模型可以提供必要的基线信息，以推动未来的研究。