Abstract: Abies chensiensis is listed as a national thirdclass endangered wildlife species. It is one of the evergreen coniferous trees that are distributed primarily in Qinling Mountain across a range of elevations extending from 1350 m to 2500 m. Using the current geographic distribution records of A. chensiensis in Qinling Mountains and 20 factors, including 14 climate factors, 3 soil factors and 3 topographic factors, the potential geographic distribution of A. chensiensis in Qinling Mountains was assessed by MaxEnt model and ArcGIS spatial analysis. Results showed that the major factors impacting the suitable distribution area of A. chensiensis included 6 climate factors (annual mean temperature, annual extreme highest temperature, average temperature in January, ≥0 ℃ accumulated temperature, aridity index and annual sunshine duration), 1 soil factor (soil pH) and 1 terrain factor (elevation). The most suitable and suitable areas of A. chensiensis in Qinling Mountains were 19498.87 and 32219.61 km², respectively, and were mainly concentrated in southeastern Gansu, central and southern Shaanxi, northeastern Sichuan, northwestern Hubei and northwestern Henan. With complex terrain, there were lots of secondary vegetations in these areas. The marginally suitable and unsuitable areas of A. chensiensis were 51874.76 and 106307.97 km², respectively. This study showed that the maximum entropy model and ArcGIS spatial analysis could be used to regionalize the potential geographic distribution of A. chensiensis, providing information for the resource conservation and management of A. chensiensis.

Key words: Pinus sylvestris varmongolica, close-to-nature forest management, forest stand type, insect community diversity