Potential establishment areas of Solenopsis invicta in China: A prediction based on GIS

Based on geographic information system (GIS), the potential establishment areas of Solenopsis invicta Buren in China were predicted. The days above threshold temperature and the number of degree-days were used as main determining factors, while annual precipitation and altitude were used as limiting factors. By using the Kriging spatial interpolation function in GIS software, the potential establishment area was divided into four categories, i.e., most suitable, suitable, mildly suitable, and unsuitable. The most suitable area was in the greater part of Guangdong, central and southern Guangxi, small part of southern Yunnan, Hainan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao, suitable area was in southern Yunnan, northern Guangxi and Guangdong, southern Henan, western Anhui, greater part of Zhejiang, central and eastern Hubei, Chongqing, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Fujian, mildly suitable area was in the greater parts of Anhui and Henan, central and eastern Hebei and Shandong, Beijing, Tianjian, central and northern Jiangsu, northwestern Zhejiang and Hubei, southern Shanxi, eastern Sichuan, central and western Guizhou, and small part of central Yunnan, and unsuitable area was in the greater parts of northwest, northeast, and north China.