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

Introduction: are two common liana species with traits that may support rocky slope rehabilitation, but their broad-scale climatic suitability remains unclear. Methods: 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: 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.