Ipomoea tricolor (Convolvulaceae) in Turkey: New occurrence record and potential spread areas under current climatic conditions

Background: The invasive alien plant species exert significant economic and ecological impacts in the introduced ranges. The occurrence reports of newly introduced species and assessing their potential spread are important for halting their future spread. Methods: The presence of Ipomoea tricolor Cav. (Convolvulaceae) in Turkey is confirmed through surveys in Tokat province. The general characteristics and seed germination potential of the plant were deter-mined, and its potential distribution areas in the country were modeled by maximum entropy model. Global habitat suitability of the species was predicted under current climatic conditions and then down-scaled to Turkey.Results: The plant was first recorded on the edge of a field and in the garden of a house in Tokat province (Kat town) of Turkey. The species was transported/introduced here for ornamental purposes. Afterward, the species was detected at two more locations in the residential areas of Tokat province, grown as an ornamental plant. The model predicted that there are plenty of vacant niches with moderate habitat suit-ability for I. tricolor in Turkey. The Black Sea, Aegean, Mediterranean and some parts of central Anatolia regions of the country are suitable for the spread of this species. Considering the rapid spread of I. pur-purea (an ornamental plant species in the same genus) in agricultural and non-agricultural areas of the country, it is predicted that I. tricolor could spread and cause negative impacts on agro-ecosystems. Conclusions: The potential spread areas of the species should be mapped under future climatic conditions to develop early detection and rapid response system in the country. Rapid surveys should be conducted in the areas predicted as suitable to track the spread of the species and improve models' prediction. Nonetheless, awareness should be created through citizen science to halt the spread of this species in the current distribution region of the country.(c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).