Climatic Change and Habitat Availability for Three Sotol Species in México: A Vision towards Their Sustainable Use

The industrial production and commercialization of distilled beverages from Sotol plants (Family: Asparagaceae, Subfamily: Zolinoideae and Genus: Dasylirion) has witnessed a steady growth in recent decades; this condition involves a greater use of the raw material that comes almost exclusively from natural populations, which could compromise the sustainability of the marginalized areas of Northern Mexico. In the present work, habitat availability was evaluated for the presence and use of the species; Dasylirion wheeleri (S. Watson ex Rothr.), Dasylirion cedrosanum (Trelease), and Dasylirion durangense (Trelease) in Mexico, considering different scenarios of climate change. For this purpose, we used the niche’s spatial analysis from a correlative approach. The results show that under the current climate, the species studied have a predominantly low habitat suitability in the central region of the Chihuahuan desert, with D. cedrosanum being the species with the lowest suitability. For the year 2050, a slight increase in the habitat suitability is expected only for D. durangense and D. wheeleri. This suggests that D. cedrosanum could be considered as the species with the greatest vulnerability to the possible climatic variations generated by global climate change. Likewise, the analysis of the results indicates that D. durangense is the one who has the greatest potential for use; however, it is necessary to consider that many of its populations may be climatically stressed and an inappropriate use could put them at risk.