Invasive Natal grass (Melinis repens) is an exotic species that is increasing in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. Although this grass is present in all Mexican states, there is not a control or management plan for this species. This study was developed in order to model its potential distribution, which can help monitoring and supporting management decision making. A total of 122 presence registers of Natal grass and climatic variables from Worldclim were used to elaborate a Species Distribution Model (SDM) using the Maxent program. The SDM calculated by Maxent showed good model quality; AUC= 0.96. The variable bio 7 (temperature range) presented the highest contribution to the model. Jackknife analysis demonstrated that when eliminating this variable, the model significantly reduces its performance. Our results suggest that Natal grass is likely to invade most of the south part of Chihuahua State, at the west will move into foothills with oak and pine and at the east into grasslands.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.