Habitat prediction of Artemisia fragrans Willd. and A. chamaemelifolia Vill. in elevation gradient of Ghezelozan-Aghdagh, Khalkhal

The purpose of this research was to model the spatial distribution of Artemisia fragrans and A. chamaemelifolia in Ghezelozen-Aghdagh elevation profile rangelands of Khalkhal city. For modeling, information about species and habitat factors such as topography, soil, and climatic factors were used, and habitat distribution modeling was performed by a logistic regression method. All parameters affecting the distribution of species were prepared as a raster map. Then, by combining the maps of the factors affecting the species distribution, the distribution map was predicted through the logistic regression method. The results showed that the most important factor in spatial prediction of A. fragrans in the region was altitude and with each meter of elevation, the presence of this species decreased by 0.88%. The results also showed that the presence of A. chamaemelifolia species was inversely related to altitude, mean temperature, and soil potassium. The Kappa index was used to determine the agreement between the prediction models with ground truth. The kappa coefficient was 0.91 for A.fragrans and 0.62 for A. chamaemelifolia, which indicates the excellent agreement of the model with reality. According to the prepared forecast map, A. fragrans and A. Chamaemelifolia species can be considered for lowland and higher altitude rangelands.