Interpretation of models of fundamental ecological niches and species' distributional areas
TLDR
This paper outlines such a formal basis to clarify the use of techniques applied to the challenge of estimating 'ecological niches', and analyzes example situations that can be modeled using these techniques, and clarify interpretation of results.Abstract:
Estimation of the dimensions of fundamental ecological niches of species to predict their geographic distributions is increasingly being attempted in systematics, ecology, conservation, public health, etc. This technique is often (of necessity) based on data comprising records of presences only. In recent years, modeling approaches have been devised to estimate these interrelated expressions of a species' ecology, distributional biology, and evolutionary history—nevertheless, a formal basis in ecological and evolutionary theory has largely been lacking. In this paper, we outline such a formal basis to clarify the use of techniques applied to the challenge of estimating 'ecological niches;' we analyze example situations that can be modeled using these techniques, and clarify interpretation of results.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Novel methods improve prediction of species' distributions from occurrence data
Jane Elith,Catherine H. Graham,Robert P. Anderson,Miroslav Dudík,Simon Ferrier,Antoine Guisan,Robert J. Hijmans,Falk Huettmann,John R. Leathwick,Anthony Lehmann,Jin Li,Lúcia G. Lohmann,Bette A. Loiselle,Glenn Manion,Craig Moritz,Miguel Nakamura,Yoshinori Nakazawa,Jacob C. M. Mc Overton,A. Townsend Peterson,Steven J. Phillips,Karen Richardson,Ricardo Scachetti-Pereira,Robert E. Schapire,Jorge Soberón,Stephen E. Williams,Mary S. Wisz,Niklaus E. Zimmermann +26 more
TL;DR: This work compared 16 modelling methods over 226 species from 6 regions of the world, creating the most comprehensive set of model comparisons to date and found that presence-only data were effective for modelling species' distributions for many species and regions.
Journal ArticleDOI
A statistical explanation of MaxEnt for ecologists
TL;DR: A new statistical explanation of MaxEnt is described, showing that the model minimizes the relative entropy between two probability densities defined in covariate space, which is likely to be a more accessible way to understand the model than previous ones that rely on machine learning concepts.
Journal ArticleDOI
Predicting species distributions from small numbers of occurrence records: A test case using cryptic geckos in Madagascar
TL;DR: A novel jackknife validation approach is developed and tested to assess the ability to predict species occurrence when fewer than 25 occurrence records are available and the minimum sample sizes required to yield useful predictions remain difficult to determine.
Journal ArticleDOI
Five (or so) challenges for species distribution modelling
Miguel B. Araújo,Antoine Guisan +1 more
TL;DR: Five areas of enquiry are identified and discussed that are of high importance for species distribution modelling: clarification of the niche concept; improved designs for sampling data for building models; improved parameterization; improved model selection and predictor contribution; and improved model evaluation.
Journal ArticleDOI
Ecological niche modeling in Maxent: the importance of model complexity and the performance of model selection criteria.
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that models that are inappropriately complex or inappropriately simple show reduced ability to infer habitat quality, reduced able to infer the relative importance of variables in constraining species' distributions, and reduced transferability to other time periods.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Predictive habitat distribution models in ecology
TL;DR: A review of predictive habitat distribution modeling is presented, which shows that a wide array of models has been developed to cover aspects as diverse as biogeography, conservation biology, climate change research, and habitat or species management.
Journal ArticleDOI
A review of methods for the assessment of prediction errors in conservation presence/absence models
Alan H. Fielding,John Bell +1 more
TL;DR: Thirteen recommendations are made to enable the objective selection of an error assessment technique for ecological presence/absence models and a new approach to estimating prediction error, which is based on the spatial characteristics of the errors, is proposed.
Journal ArticleDOI
Predicting the impacts of climate change on the distribution of species: are bioclimate envelope models useful?
TL;DR: In this paper, a hierarchical modeling framework is proposed through which some of these limitations can be addressed within a broader, scale-dependent framework, and it is proposed that, although the complexity of the natural system presents fundamental limits to predictive modelling, the bioclimate envelope approach can provide a useful first approximation as to the potentially dramatic impact of climate change on biodiversity.
Book
The structure and dynamics of geographic ranges
TL;DR: The Structure and Dynamic of Geographic Ranges as mentioned in this paper is a book about the structure and dynamics of geographic ranges, which is a good book to read when you need a new book.
Journal ArticleDOI
On the relationship between niche and distribution
TL;DR: Hutchinson’s niche concept can be modified to incorporate the influences of niche width, habitat availability and dispersal, as well as interspecific competition per se, and a simulation model called NICHE is introduced that embodies many of Hutchinson's original niche concepts and is used to predict patterns of species distribution.
Related Papers (5)
Novel methods improve prediction of species' distributions from occurrence data
Jane Elith,Catherine H. Graham,Robert P. Anderson,Miroslav Dudík,Simon Ferrier,Antoine Guisan,Robert J. Hijmans,Falk Huettmann,John R. Leathwick,Anthony Lehmann,Jin Li,Lúcia G. Lohmann,Bette A. Loiselle,Glenn Manion,Craig Moritz,Miguel Nakamura,Yoshinori Nakazawa,Jacob C. M. Mc Overton,A. Townsend Peterson,Steven J. Phillips,Karen Richardson,Ricardo Scachetti-Pereira,Robert E. Schapire,Jorge Soberón,Stephen E. Williams,Mary S. Wisz,Niklaus E. Zimmermann +26 more