Prediction of Potential Distribution and Climatic Factors Influencing Garcinia indica in the Western Ghats of India Using Ecological Niche Modeling

Garcinia indica is endemic to Western Ghats of India and belongs to the family Clusiaceae. It has anti-obesity, antioxidant, anticancer and other high potential medicinal values. Considering the importance and threat of overexploitation of G. indica, the prediction of potential distribution and understanding the climatic factors responsible for the niche of the species in wild including areas for its cultivation have been worked out based on primary occurrence data. Ecological niche modeling has been carried out using MaxEnt and BIOCLIM algorithms. Among them, MaxEnt performed better as compared to BIOCLIM model with high AUC value. However, predictions by both models were found to be almost similar. The prediction revealed that the species habitat suitability is in the Konkan regions of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka. The precipitation and temperature are the major factors defining the distribution of the species. As this species is commercially exploited, the outcome of present study will help in large-scale cultivation and sustainable utilization of the species.