Ecological niche models and the geography of biological invasions: a review and a novel application - Invasive Plants: Ecological and Agricultural Aspects - page 36

Figure 2. Projections of red imported fire ant (RIFA, Solenopsis invicta Buren) ecological niche mod-
els. The Forward-ENM projections represent (A) the potential native distribution in South America
based on 71 native range points (open circles [31-33]) and (B) the predicted potential invaded range
in the US. The Reverse-ENM projections represent (C) the potential invaded distribution of RIFA in
the US based on 771 invaded range points [21] (not shown for clarity) and (D) the predicted potential
native range in South America based on the Reverse-ENM model. Bold, solid lines represent (1)
regions of the known invasion of RIFA in the US [21] (B, C) and (2) the extent of the range of RIFA
in South America [33] (A, D). In all models, darker shading represents greater model agreement in
predicting the presence of RIFA.