Common mistakes in ecological niche models

• Type: Another Publication in an International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2020

Authors

sillero, n (Author) FCUP; Barbosa, AM (Author) Other

Journal

Title: International Journal of Geographical Information Science

Pages: 1-14

ISSN: 1365-8816

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 41 Citations

Scopus - 40 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00S-GH7

DOI: 10.1080/13658816.2020.1798968

Abstract (EN): Ecological niche models (ENMs) are widely used statistical methods to estimate various types of species niches. After lecturing several editions of introductory courses on ENMs and reviewing numerous manuscripts on this subject, we frequently faced some recurrent mistakes: 1) presence-background modelling methods, such as Maxent or ENFA, are used as if they were pseudo-absence methods; 2) spatial autocorrelation is confused with clustering of species records; 3) environmental variables are used with a higher spatial resolution than species records; 4) correlations between variables are not taken into account; 5) machine-learning models are not replicated; 6) topographical variables are calculated from unprojected coordinate systems, and; 7) environmental variables are downscaled by resampling. Some of these mistakes correspond to student misunderstandings and are corrected before publication. However, other errors can be found in published papers. We explain here why these approaches are erroneous and we propose ways to improve them.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 14