Cistanche deserticola Ma is a traditional Chinese medicinal plant exclusively parasitizing on the roots of Haloxylon ammodendron (C. A. Mey.) Bunge and H. Persicum Bunge ex Boiss and the primary cultivated crop of the desert economy. Its wild resources became scarce due to over-exploitation and poaching for economic benefits. To protect the biological diversity of the desert Haloxylon–Cistanche community forest, the optimal combination of desert ecology and economy industry, and their future survival, this paper examines the conservation areas of wild C. deserticola from the perspective of hosts’ effects and climate changes. To identify conservation areas, the potential distributions generated by MaxEnt in two strategies (AH: abiotic and hosts factors; HO: hosts factors only) compare the model’s performance, the niche range overlap, and the changing trend in climate changes. The results show the following: (1) The HO strategy is more suitable for prediction and identifying the core conservation areas in hosts and climate changes (indirectly affected by host distributions) for C. deserticola. (2) The low-suitable habitat and the medium-suitable habitat are both sensitive to the climate changes; the reduction reaches 48.2% (SSP585, 2081–2100) and 26.6%(SSP370, 2081–2100), respectively. The highly suitable habitat is always in growth, with growth reaching 27.3% (SSP585, 2081–2100). (3) Core conservation areas and agriculture and education areas are 317,315.118 km² and 319,489.874 km², respectively. This study developed a predictive model for Maxent under climate change scenarios by limiting host and abiotic factors and inverted the natural habitat of C. deserticola to provide scientific zoning for biodiversity conservation in desert Haloxylon–Cistanche community forests systems, providing an effective reference for decision makers.

The gum acacia Senegalia senegal (L.) Britton (Fabales: Fabaceae) is a drought-tolerant plant belonging to the genus Acacia of the Leguminosae family, possessing significant economic and ecological value. Despite its importance, there is a knowledge gap regarding the potential impact of climate change on the distribution of S. senegal, crucial for the conservation of plant resources and optimizing its use in introductory silviculture. In this study, we selected 23 environmental variables and utilized the optimized maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model to analyze the key environmental factors affecting the distribution of S. senegal worldwide and simulate the current and future distribution range of S. senegal in Pakistan under the SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, and SSP5-8.5 climate change scenarios. The results highlight key environmental factors influencing the distribution of S. senegal, including BIO3 (isothermally), BIO4 (coefficient of seasonal variation of temperature), BIO11 (mean temperature of the coldest season), and BIO12 (annual precipitation). Regions with higher and less fluctuating temperatures exhibit a higher potential for S. senegal distribution. Currently, suitable habitats of S. senegal are concentrated in the southern region of Pakistan, covering provinces such as Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan, with highly suitable habitats accounting for 6.06% of the total area. Under the current climatic conditions, this study identifies the spatial patterns of suitable habitats and their concentration in specific regions. With climate change, a notable expansion of suitable habitats towards higher latitudes is observed, with the most significant expansion under the extremely severe climate change scenario (SSP5-8.5), reaching 223.45% of the current level. The results of this study enhance our understanding of the dynamics of S. senegal distribution under climate change and offer valuable insights into the long-term introduction of S. senegal for afforestation and soil conservation in Pakistan. This study provides theoretical support for the sustainable development of the local ecosystem and socio-economy, emphasizing the importance of proactive measures to adapt to changing climatic conditions.