Background <p>Commonly cultivated oats (<i>Avena nuda</i> and <i>Avena sativa</i>) play an important role in agricultural planting structure adjustment, ecological environment protection and grassland animal husbandry development, and their effective cultivation is conducive to food security and grassland degradation restoration. This study comprehensively collected the geographic distribution and environmental data of <i>A. nuda</i> and <i>A. sativa</i> from global regions, the ensembled niche and Marxan model were used to predict the potential spatiotemporal distribution and planting pattern of commonly cultivated oats, and further explore the environmental factors that affected the spatial distribution and genetic diversity pattern.</p> Results <p>The results showed that: (1) The potential suitability regions of <i>A. nuda</i> and <i>A. sativa</i> were concentrated in the plateau (spanning 25°~45°N, 90°~125°E; and 40°~60°N, 10°W ~ 35°E) and plain (spanning 35°~65°N, 10°W ~ 55°E; and 30°~50°N, 65°W ~ 100°E), respectively. (2) Over time, the suitability regions of <i>A. nuda</i> and <i>A. sativa</i> showed an expanding trend. (3) The potential planting regions of <i>A. nuda</i> were widely distributed in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Mongolia Plateau, West Siberian Plain, Iran Plateau, Bavaria Plateau and Yukon Plateau; that of <i>A. sativa</i> were concentrated in Central Great Plains of North America, Mississippi River Plain, Midland Plain, Bode Plain, Western Europe Plain, Eastern Europe Plain, West Siberia Plain, Central Australia Plain and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. (4) The spatial distribution pattern of commonly cultivated oats in the current period was responsive to temperature and habitat conditions. In addition, the genetic distance of <i>A. nuda</i> was responsive to mean diurnal air temperature range (bio02), temperature seasonality (bio04), precipitation amount of the driest month (bio14), precipitation seasonality (bio15), and mean monthly precipitation amount of the coldest quarter (bio19), while the genetic distance of <i>A. sativa</i> was only affected by mean annual air temperature (bio01).</p> Conclusions <p>This study aims to explore the potential spatiotemporal and planting patterns of commonly cultivated oats in global regions, to clarify their potential distribution and planting regions, and provide an effective theoretical basis for the collection, preservation and utilization of global commonly cultivated oat population resources.</p> Clinical trial number <p>Not applicable.</p>