Modelling the potential distribution of African Wormwood (Artemisia afra) using machine learning algorithm-based approach (MaxEnt) in Sekhukhune District, South Africa

Artemisia afra Jacq. Ex Willd, commonly known as African wormwood, is a native medicinal plant that has been unsustainable harvested primarily for its leaves due to its medicinal properties. The unsustainable harvesting of this plant underscores the urgent need for conservation and management practices. This study, therefore, used the MaxEnt model of the potential distribution of A. afra. Location: Sekhukhune District Municipality, South Africa. We used 105 sampled records and 27 environmental variables to model the potential spatial distribution of A. afra using the MaxEnt modelling approach. The predictions were performed using current climatic and topographic conditions. A significant portion of the area, 54.46%, is highly suitable for the distribution of A. afra, with various suitability degrees. Precipitation contributed 33.6% to the suitability predictions, followed by NDVI, soil, and distance from rivers with 27.1%, 8.1%, and 5.7%, respectively. Artemisia afra is predicted to be ..., Handheld GPS was used for data collection. The collected location data was cleaned and prepared using Excel., , **README**

**Title**: *Modelling the Potential Distribution of African Wormwood* (Artemisia afra) *Using a Machine Learning Algorithm-Based Approach (MaxEnt) in Sekhukhune District, South Africa*

**DOI**: [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dz08kps71](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dz08kps71)

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## Description of the Data and File Structure

This dataset contains georeferenced field occurrence records and raster-based environmental predictors used to model the potential distribution of *Artemisia afra* using the MaxEnt algorithm. Field data were collected in the Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality, Limpopo, South Africa. Environmental variables were sourced from publicly available datasets and processed to meet the requirements of MaxEnt.

### File: `Occurrence_Data.zip`

Contains presence-only occurrence records for *Artemisia afra* used in model development and validation.

* **Artemisia afra train.csv**
* 70% of field-verified occurrence points (training set)
* Columns:
*...,