Habitat Suitability of Cornus officinalis in the Qinling Region Based on Fuzzy Mathematics

Cornus officinalis is a common traditional medicinal material. In this study, we simulated the potential geographical distribution of C. officinalis, and classified its habitat suitability based on 21 environmental factors and loganin contents. Fuzzy mathematics and maximum entropy were used to determine membership function and weight of each evaluation factor. We used the spatial analyst module of ArcGIS 10 to simulate the potential distribution of suitable habitat for C. officinalis growth in the study area. Results showed that climatic factors were the most important, followed by soil and topography. In the 21 evaluation factors, topsoil USDA texture classification (TTEX) had the greatest weight, followed by precipitation of growth (PG), annual precipitation (AP) and precipitation seasonality (PS). Highly suitable areas accounted for 19.94% of the study area, and were mainly distributed in southeast Gansu, south Shaanxi and west Henan. These areas exhibited suitable temperature, humidity and sunlight for C. officinalis growth. The percentages of suitable, low suitable and unsuitable areas for C. officinalis were 11.85%, 16.31% and 51.90%, respectively. Thus, the evaluation model based on GIS and fuzzy mathematics was appropriate for the determining habitat suitability for C. officinalis in the Qinling region, and was also able to quantify the effect of different environmental factors on C. officinalis in different habitats. This study provides scientific evidence for the management, protection and artificial cultivation of C. officinalis.