Feng, Shuang ， Zhang, Chengfu ， Wu, Bo ， Zhao, Hongsheng ， Miao, Lin
2026-05-14 POLISH JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES 2026 null(卷), null(期), (null页)
A scientifically robust classification of biogeographical regions, along with research on their interdependencies, is essential for enhancing our understanding of biodiversity dynamics, ecological conservation, and natural resource management. In this study, we partitioned the biogeographic regions of Inner Mongolia's desert-steppe ecotone using the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model. The results indicated that the study area could be divided into shrub and herb regions. The model effectively simulated the potential distributions, yielding an area under the curve >0.8. The contribution of biological interactions to the shrub and herb regions was relatively high, reaching 34.8% for both shrubs and herbs. The two regions primarily compete for precipitation during the wettest month, with optimal precipitation ranges of 10.12-65.01 mm for shrubs and 26.90-86.90 mm for herbs. When biological effects were incorporated into the model, the distribution areas of both regions decreased, although their average suitability remained stable. This study quantitatively validates the significance of biological factors through modeling and provides a data-driven foundation for the development of regional conservation strategies.