Maps of species' distributions or habitat suitability are required for many aspects of environmental research, resource management and conservation planning. These include biodiversity assessment, ...reserve design, habitat management and restoration, species and habitat conservation plans and predicting the effects of environmental change on species and ecosystems. The proliferation of methods and uncertainty regarding their effectiveness can be daunting to researchers, resource managers and conservation planners alike. Franklin summarises the methods used in species distribution modeling (also called niche modeling) and presents a framework for spatial prediction of species distributions based on the attributes (space, time, scale) of the data and questions being asked. The framework links theoretical ecological models of species distributions to spatial data on species and environment, and statistical models used for spatial prediction. Providing practical guidelines to students, researchers and practitioners in a broad range of environmental sciences including ecology, geography, conservation biology, and natural resources management.
The design and creation of the Ionian Islands Unique Rock Garden (IIURG), an innovative plant display in Thessaloniki, Greece, is described. This includes seven naturalistic rock gardens hosting ...twenty-two plant taxa of conservation priority. The unique nature of the IIURG is based on two features: the emulation of the natural geographic characteristics of the Ionian Islands (Greece) and the integration of the endemic elements of the islands’ native flora, focusing on the biogeographical significance of each. In this way, the IIURG represents an innovative concept in the horticulture of botanic gardens which embodies the natural biogeography and its basic concepts such as ‘islands’, ‘native’ and ‘endemism’. In aesthetic terms the garden looks like a natural sculpture and functions as a focal point. It is a carefully constructed plant display using environmentally sustainable principles with low levels of maintenance and irrigation required. The aim is that the IIURG should be used as a useful tool for awareness-raising on the conservation of prioritised plants.
Aims The 50th anniversary of the publication of the seminal book, The Theory of Island Biogeography, by Robert H. MacArthur and Edward O. Wilson, is a timely moment to review and identify key ...research foci that could advance island biology. Here, we take a collaborative horizon-scanning approach to identify 50 fundamental questions for the continued development of the field. Location Worldwide. Methods We adapted a well-established methodology of horizon scanning to identify priority research questions in island biology, and initiated it during the Island Biology 2016 conference held in the Azores. A multidisciplinary working group prepared an initial pool of 187 questions. A series of online surveys was then used to refine a list of the 50 top priority questions. The final shortlist was restricted to questions with a broad conceptual scope, and which should be answerable through achievable research approaches. Results Questions were structured around four broad and partially overlapping island topics, including: (Macro)Ecology and Biogeography, (Macro)Evolution, Community Ecology, and Conservation and Management. These topics were then subdivided according to the following subject areas: global diversity patterns (five questions in total); island ontogeny and past climate change (4); island rules and syndromes (3); island biogeography theory (4); immigration–speciation–extinction dynamics (5); speciation and diversification (4); dispersal and colonization (3); community assembly (6); biotic interactions (2); global change (5); conservation and management policies (5); and invasive alien species (4). Main conclusions Collectively, this cross-disciplinary set of topics covering the 50 fundamental questions has the potential to stimulate and guide future research in island biology. By covering fields ranging from biogeography, community ecology and evolution to global change, this horizon scan may help to foster the formation of interdisciplinary research networks, enhancing joint efforts to better understand the past, present and future of island biotas.
Aim To explore the impacts of imperfect reference data on the accuracy of species distribution model predictions. The main focus is on impacts of the quality of reference data (labelling accuracy) ...and, to a lesser degree, data quantity (sample size) on species presence-absence modelling. Innovation The paper challenges the common assumption that some popular measures of model accuracy and model predictions are prevalence independent. It highlights how imperfect reference data may impact on a study and the actions that may be taken to address problems. Main conclusions The theoretical independence of prevalence of popular accuracy measures, such as sensitivity, specificity, true skills statistics (TSS) and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), is unlikely to occur in practice due to reference data error; all of these measures of accuracy, together with estimates of species occurrence, showed prevalence dependency arising through the use of a non-gold-standard reference. The number of cases used also had implications for the ability of a study to meet its objectives. Means to reduce the negative effects of imperfect reference data in study design and interpretation are suggested.
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