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Research on Crops

Assessing the distribution of Litsea cubeba in Gia Lai Province, Vietnam through the MaxEnt Model


DOI: 10.31830/2348-7542.2025.ROC-1266    | Article Id: ROC-1266 | Page : 721-727
Citation :- Assessing the distribution of Litsea cubeba in Gia Lai Province, Vietnam through the MaxEnt Model. Res. Crop. 26: 721-727
HUNG CUONG DANG, DANG HOI NGUYEN AND NGOC HUYEN DANG danghungcuong@gmail.com
Address : Institute of Tropical Ecology, Joint Vietnam-Russia Tropical Science and Technology Research Center, 63 Nguyen Van Huyen Str., Nghia Do, Hanoi, Vietnam
Submitted Date : 12-11-2025
Accepted Date : 26-11-2025
Online Published:

Abstract

Litsea cubeba, a valuable tree cultivated for essential oil, medicinal purposes, and spices, is gaining attention for development in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Accurate spatial planning for its cultivation requires a precise assessment of suitable land areas. This study aimed to model the potential distribution of L. cubeba in Gia Lai Province using the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) algorithm, renowned for its effectiveness with limited species occurrence data. The model was trained with 195 species presence locations and 19 bioclimatic variables from WorldClim 2.1. Model performance was evaluated through 15 cross-validation replicates, assessed by the Area Under the Curve (AUC), True Skill Statistic (TSS), and ROC curves. The results demonstrated high model accuracy, with mean training and validation AUC values of 0.926 and 0.896, respectively. The most influential variable was precipitation of the driest quarter (Bio17), contributing 66.6% and exhibiting the highest gain in Jackknife tests. Other significant variables included diurnal temperature range (Bio02) and precipitation of the driest month (Bio14). The resulting suitability map was classified into four levels. The findings indicate that only approximately 10.25% (about 1,589 km²) of the province's area is suitable for Litsea cubeba, with highly suitable zones (∼1-2%) concentrated on the plateau peaks. This research provides a critical scientific foundation for land-use planning and the sustainable expansion of Litsea cubeba cultivation in the region.

Keywords

Bioclimatic predictors Litsea cubeba MaxEnt potential distribution

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