Vegetation characteristics and assessment of habitat suitability for Pedicularis ishidoyana Koidz. & Ohwi (Scrophulariaceae) community

This study aimed to establish conservation measures for the preservation of the natural habitats of Pedicularis ishidoyana, an endemic plant species in South Korea. A field survey was conducted using Braun–Blanquet's phytosociological method to analyze the vegetation characteristics of the natural habitat of P. ishidoyana in the regions of Gyeongju, Geoje, and Yeongyang in Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Based on this, evaluations were made on the importance value and species diversity. As a result, the importance value of P. ishidoyana was found to be the highest in the Gyeongju (14.95) region, the species composition among different habitats was determined to be similar. Moreover, the natural habitats of P. ishidoyana were distributed in elevations ranging from 107 to 490 m, and the plants thrived mainly on slopes around valleys. In this study, the UKESM1-0-LL dataset and Maxent (Maximum entropy model) were utilized to forecast future distributional changes. Specifically, future climate data from the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) 2–4.5 and 5–8.5 scenarios, as suggested in the IPCC 6th assessment report, were employed. As a result, it was analyzed that the suitable habitat for P. ishidoyana increased under the SSP 2–4.5 scenario, while it decreased under the SSP 5-8.5 scenario.