• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.335-344
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• 2023

Brachydiplax chalybea flavovittata, a climate-sensitive biological indicator species, was first observed and recorded at Jeju Island in Korea in 2010. Overwintering was recently confirmed in the Yeongsan River area. This study was aimed to predict the potential distribution patterns for the larvae of B. chalybea flavovittata and to understand its ecological characteristics as well as changes of population under global climate change circumstances. Data was collected both from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and by field surveys from May 2019 to May 2023. We used for the distribution model among downloaded 19 variables from the WorldClim database. MaxEnt model was adopted for the prediction of potential and future distribution for B. chalybea flavovittata. Larval distribution ranged within a region delimited by northern latitude from Jeju-si, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province (33.318096°) to Yeoju-si, Gyeonggi-do (37.366734°) and eastern longitude from Jindo-gun, Jeollanam-do (126.054925°) to Yangsan-si, Gyeongsangnam-do (129.016472°). M type (permanent rivers, streams and creeks) wetlands were the most common habitat based on the Ramsar's wetland classification system, followed by Tp type (permanent freshwater marshes and pools) (45.8%) and F type (estuarine waters) (4.2%). MaxEnt model presented that potential distribution with high inhabiting probability included Ulsan and Daegu Metropolitan City in addition to the currently discovered habitats. Applying to the future scenarios by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it was predicted that the possible distribution area would expand in the 2050s and 2090s, covering the southern and western coastal regions, the southern Daegu metropolitan area and the eastern coastal regions in the near future. This study suggests that B. chalybea flavovittata can be used as an effective indicator species for climate changes with a monitoring of their distribution ranges. Our findings will also help to provide basic information on the conservation and management of co-existing native species.