Abstract: Food resources are an important factor driving habitat selection for primates. Understanding the distribution of food resources is of great importance for habitat conservation and restoration for Hainan gibbon (Nomascus hainanus). A total of 180 plots were surveyed based on grids and 105 food tree species for Hainan gibbon were recorded. The MaxEnt model was used to predict the spatial distribution of six fruit edible tree species and to explore the correlation between different fruit types of tree species and environmental factors (climate and topography). The results showed that the AUC values of models for all the six fruit types were over 0.90, indicating that the modeling precision was excellent. August precipitation was the main environmental variable affecting the spatial distribution of berry, ficus fruit and nut-classified tree species, contributing to 43.8%, 27.8%, and 19.6%, respectively. Hargreaves reference evaporation was the main environmental factor affecting the spatial distribution of drupe, cone and collective fruitclassified tree species, contributing to 23.6%, 51.1%, and 58.8%, respectively. The contribution rate of mean coldest month temperature was more than 12% to six fruit types. The occurrence probability of fruit types decreased monotonously with mean temperature of the coldest month and Hargreaves reference evaporation. The concentrated distribution areas of fruit types were mainly distributed in the Futouling, Heiling and Yajiadaling, covering an area of 2392.19 hm². A total of 2346.88 hm² were located in the Bawangling Nature Reserve, accounting for 98.11%, which effectively protected the edible tree species of different fruit types. This study can provide a reference for habitat protection and vegetation restoration for Hainan gibbon.

Key words: Nomascus hainanus, edible tree species, fruit type, spatial distribution, MaxEnt model.