Investigation of Ecological Factors Affecting the Establishment of Carum Carvi and Preparation of its Habitat Suitability Map in Alamout Sharghi Region)

Carum carvi is a native species that is widely used in various medicinal, food, health, and cosmetic industries. In this study, the MaxEnt model was used to investigate the ecological factors affecting the establishment and distribution of Carum carvi and to prepare a map of its habitat suitability in Alamout Sharghi Rangelands (2019). To model the map, 19 environmental variables and information on the presence points of the species were prepared and entered into MAXENT software. Evaluation of the model results was obtained at 95% using AUC, which indicates the high accuracy of the model results. According to the results, C. carvi species prefers to grow in the altitude range of 1000 to 2700 meters, with lime of soil 14 to 25 percent, rainfall 400 to 500 mm, soil acidity 7.7-7.8, sand of soil about 35 percent, clay of soil 20 to 40 percent in Alamout Sharghi region. The probability of the presence of this species increases to 80% with the increase of soil organic matter from 0.5% to 2% and the probability of the presence of C. carvi species reaches 100% with the increase of silt of soil from 4 to 25%. Among the micronutrients, C. carvi showed a better response to increasing potassium. The variables of range direction, soil acidity, and sodium (Bio2, Bio15, and Bio14, respectively) were the least important environmental variables in the jackknife test. This basin has almost all geographical directions due to its mountainous nature. The acidity of the soil in this basin is 7.6-7.8 (almost neutral) and the amount of sodium in the soil is also negligible. The results of this study are used for domestication and cultivation of this plant in lands with similar habitat conditions for its widespread use and commercialization of its products.