Climatic suitability screening of Parthenocissus tricuspidata and Ficus tikoua as candidate lianas for rocky slope rehabilitation

Introduction Infrastructure development in karst regions frequently leads to the formation of rocky slopes that are difficult to rehabilitate. Lianas, owing to their strong adaptability and rapid growth, may provide suitable plant materials for the ecological rehabilitation of such slopes. Among them, Parthenocissus tricuspidata and Ficus tikoua are two common liana species with traits that may support rocky slope rehabilitation, but their broad-scale climatic suitability remains unclear. Methods In this study, the MaxEnt model was used to predict the global climatically suitable areas of P. tricuspidata and F. tikoua under current and future climate scenarios. The potential distributions of both species were compared to evaluate their suitability as candidate species for rocky slope rehabilitation. Results Under current climatic conditions, climatically suitable areas for both species, including overlapping suitable regions, were mainly distributed in parts of North America, East and Southeast Asia, Eastern Australia, and Central Europe. Under the selected future climate scenarios, the climatically suitable areas of both species generally increased, although the magnitude and pattern of change differed between species and scenarios. Discussion These results provide a broad-scale climatic screening framework for evaluating P. tricuspidata and F. tikoua as candidate species for rocky slope rehabilitation. However, the predicted suitable areas represent climatic suitability rather than direct restoration site identification. Practical application should therefore also consider real-world restoration constraints, including rocky slope occurrence, substrate conditions, and ecological risk assessment, especially in non-native regions.