The red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) is categorized into the world’s 100 worst invasive alien species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Accordingly, the prediction of potential distribution of the red imported fire ant is demanded in order to provide the possibility of dispersion into new sites, and to identify vulnerable regions to be attacked. In general, species distribution model can predict potential distribution of a specific species, but most of them have used air temperature as the most important variable. However, red imported fire ant has life cycle under ground, requiring soil temperature for more reliable prediction of potential habitats. For this reason, this study was to insert soil temperature into CLIMEX, and to evaluate potential distribution of the red imported fire ant.

• Jae-Min Jung(Department of Biosystems Machinery Engineering, Chungnam National University)
• Dae-Hyeon Byeon(Department of Biosystems Machinery Engineering, Chungnam National University)
• Sunghoon Jung(Department of Applied Biology, Chungnam National University)
• Wang-Hee Lee(Department of Biosystems Machinery Engineering, Chungnam National University)