Which bird traits most affect the goodness-of-fit of species distribution models?
Species distribution models (SDMs) are numerical tools that combine species occurrence (or abundance) data with environmental variables, to predict the species’ distribution spatially. SDMs are increasingly used for purposes of conservation planning and management of ecosystems. The model performanc...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Ecological Indicators |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23014590 |
| _version_ | 1827636039130284032 |
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| author | Federico Morelli Yanina Benedetti Jesse Stanford Leszek Jerzak Piotr Tryjanowski Paolo Perna Riccardo Santolini |
| author_facet | Federico Morelli Yanina Benedetti Jesse Stanford Leszek Jerzak Piotr Tryjanowski Paolo Perna Riccardo Santolini |
| author_sort | Federico Morelli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Species distribution models (SDMs) are numerical tools that combine species occurrence (or abundance) data with environmental variables, to predict the species’ distribution spatially. SDMs are increasingly used for purposes of conservation planning and management of ecosystems. The model performance can be measured as the goodness-of-fit (GOF), which describes how well it fits (e.g., the discrepancy between the statistical model and the data observed). However, there is still a need for a deeper understanding of the ecological characteristics of the modelled species which can affect the accuracy of those models. Here, we compared the goodness-of-fit of SDMs, considering several ecological characteristics of 56 bird species: Most frequently used environment, body mass, home-range, species specialization index (SSI), diet specialization and detectability. All SDMs were performed on the same dataset, and the relative frequency of each species was also incorporated to account for occurrence heterogeneity. GOF of SDMs was not significantly correlated with species’ frequency, home-range, body mass, degree of detectability or level of diet specialization. Overall, the birds with more accurate SDMs (GOF) were species of grasslands and the GOF was positively associated with SSI, indicating that more habitat-specialized species are better predictable. Our findings suggest that is important to focus not only on statistical issues potentially related to model performance but also on ecological characteristics of single species because can improve the performance of modellistic procedures, increasing their predictive power. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:35:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0ded7861217b44279893845a92c9aa33 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1470-160X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:35:41Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecological Indicators |
| spelling | doaj.art-0ded7861217b44279893845a92c9aa332023-11-26T05:12:12ZengElsevierEcological Indicators1470-160X2024-01-01158111317Which bird traits most affect the goodness-of-fit of species distribution models?Federico Morelli0Yanina Benedetti1Jesse Stanford2Leszek Jerzak3Piotr Tryjanowski4Paolo Perna5Riccardo Santolini6Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Kamýcká 129, CZ-165 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic; Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole, BH 12 5BB, UK; Corresponding author.Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Kamýcká 129, CZ-165 00 Prague 6, Czech RepublicCzech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Kamýcká 129, CZ-165 00 Prague 6, Czech RepublicInstitute of Biological Sciences, University of Zielona Góra, Prof. Szafrana St. 1, PL 65-516, Zielona Góra, PolandInstitute of Zoology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 71C, PL-60-625 Poznań, PolandTerre.it Srl, largo Decio Filipponi n°30/a, Palazzo Costa, 62028 Sarnano, MC, ItalyDepartment of Economics, Society & Politics, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Campus E. Mattei, 61029 Urbino, PU, ItalySpecies distribution models (SDMs) are numerical tools that combine species occurrence (or abundance) data with environmental variables, to predict the species’ distribution spatially. SDMs are increasingly used for purposes of conservation planning and management of ecosystems. The model performance can be measured as the goodness-of-fit (GOF), which describes how well it fits (e.g., the discrepancy between the statistical model and the data observed). However, there is still a need for a deeper understanding of the ecological characteristics of the modelled species which can affect the accuracy of those models. Here, we compared the goodness-of-fit of SDMs, considering several ecological characteristics of 56 bird species: Most frequently used environment, body mass, home-range, species specialization index (SSI), diet specialization and detectability. All SDMs were performed on the same dataset, and the relative frequency of each species was also incorporated to account for occurrence heterogeneity. GOF of SDMs was not significantly correlated with species’ frequency, home-range, body mass, degree of detectability or level of diet specialization. Overall, the birds with more accurate SDMs (GOF) were species of grasslands and the GOF was positively associated with SSI, indicating that more habitat-specialized species are better predictable. Our findings suggest that is important to focus not only on statistical issues potentially related to model performance but also on ecological characteristics of single species because can improve the performance of modellistic procedures, increasing their predictive power.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23014590AUCEcological traitsFarmland birdsForest birdsHome-rangeSDMs |
| spellingShingle | Federico Morelli Yanina Benedetti Jesse Stanford Leszek Jerzak Piotr Tryjanowski Paolo Perna Riccardo Santolini Which bird traits most affect the goodness-of-fit of species distribution models? Ecological Indicators AUC Ecological traits Farmland birds Forest birds Home-range SDMs |
| title | Which bird traits most affect the goodness-of-fit of species distribution models? |
| title_full | Which bird traits most affect the goodness-of-fit of species distribution models? |
| title_fullStr | Which bird traits most affect the goodness-of-fit of species distribution models? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Which bird traits most affect the goodness-of-fit of species distribution models? |
| title_short | Which bird traits most affect the goodness-of-fit of species distribution models? |
| title_sort | which bird traits most affect the goodness of fit of species distribution models |
| topic | AUC Ecological traits Farmland birds Forest birds Home-range SDMs |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23014590 |
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