PREDICTING THE DISTRIBUTION OF SUITABLE HABITATS FOR PANDANUS UNGUIFER HOOK.F. - A DWARF ENDEMIC SPECIES FROM SIKKIM HIMALAYAS, THROUGH ECOLOGICAL NICHE MODELING

Pandanus unguifer is a threatened species endemic to Sikkim and Darjeeling district of West Bengal. The species bears mildly fragrant creamy white colored flower and is the only Pandanus species that produces flowers in potted condition and hence, is of ornamental value. We used field collected-coordinates of five presence occurrence localities of the species for habitat distribution modeling. Additionally, downloaded environmental data from worldclim database were used for correlation. Amongst the input environmental variables, Mean diurnal range in temperature (Bio2) and Precipitation seasonality (CV) (Bio15) were influential factors and contributed 48.7% and 40.8% respectively to the MaxEnt model. The Rest of the remaining layers collectively contributed 10.5% to the final habitat model. Of the total 5963 sq.km suitable area only 153 sq. km has a very high probability of having P. unguifer which is only 2.57% of the total area. The study revealed the highest potential distribution of the species in Darjeeling district of West Bengal compared to Sikkim. However, resource extraction due to the felling of trees for fodder and small timber, road-widening and agricultural expansion are the causative factors threatening the existence of the species in its natural habitat. Thus urgent conservation initiatives are required to protect the existing endangered endemic species richness of these regions.