Climate-Driven Habitat Suitability and Niche Vulnerability of Rare Basidiolichens Sulzbacheromyces yunnanensis and S. bicolor in Northeast India

The present paper described about two species of basidiolichens under the genus Sulzbacheromyces collected from southern part of Barak valley Assam, India. The species was identified morphologically, anatomically, chemically, through ITS-based molecular and phylogenetic analysis. Out of these two species S. yunnanensis is a new record to the state of Assam, India. Further, ENM was performed with MaxEnt, incorporating 35 bioclimatic variables to predict niche suitability for both the species under current (2030) and future (2100) climatic scenarios. The ENM data predicts a significant contraction of highly suitable niches by 2100, driven by changes in radiation and precipitation, particularly in peripheral and cross-border regions of India and southeast nation. The findings suggest that radiation and precipitation of the warmest quarter, contribute 23.8 and 22.5% to the model, respectively are critical limiting factors that is playing an important role for the survival of these species.