Temporal and Spatial Dynamics of Rodent Species Habitats in the Ordos Desert Steppe, China

Climate change is driving the restructuring of global biological communities. As a species sensitive to climate change, studying the response of small rodents to climate change is helpful to indirectly understand the changes in ecology and biodiversity in a certain region. Here, we use the MaxEnt (maximum entropy) model to predict the distribution patterns, main influencing factors, and range changes of various small rodents in the Ordos desert steppe in China under different climate change scenarios in the future (2050s: average for 2041-2060). The results show that when the parameters are FC = LQHPT, and RM = 4, the MaxEnt model is optimal and AUC = 0.833. We found that NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index), Bio 12 (annual precipitation), and TOC (total organic carbon) are important driving factors affecting the suitability of the small rodent habitat distribution in the region. At the same time, the main influencing factors were also different for different rodent species. We selected 4 dominant species for analysis and found that, under the situation of future climate warming, the high-suitability habitat area of Allactaga sibirica and Phodopus roborovskii will decrease, while that of Meriones meridianus and Meriones unguiculatus will increase. Our research results suggest that local governments should take early preventive measures, strengthen species protection, and respond to ecological challenges brought about by climate change promptly.