Harnessing the world's biodiversity data: promise and peril in ecological niche modeling of species distributions

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
Robert P Anderson

Abstract

Recent advances allow harnessing enormous stores of biological and environmental data to model species niches and geographic distributions. Natural history museums hold specimens that represent the only information available for most species. Ecological niche models (sometimes termed species distribution models) combine such information with digital environmental data (especially climatic) to offer key insights for conservation biology, management of invasive species, zoonotic human diseases, and other pressing environmental problems. Five major pitfalls seriously hinder such research, especially for cross-space or cross-time uses: (1) incorrect taxonomic identifications; (2) lacking or inadequate databasing and georeferences; (3) effects of sampling bias across geography; (4) violation of assumptions related to selection of the study region; and (5) problems regarding model evaluation to identify optimal model complexity. Large-scale initiatives regarding data availability and quality, technological development, and capacity building should allow high-quality modeling on a scale commensurate with the enormous potential of and need for these techniques.

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Citations

Aug 8, 2014·Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences·Robert P Anderson
Jan 16, 2020·Ecology and Evolution·Douglas ChestersChao-Dong Zhu
Oct 13, 2017·PloS One·Mallikarjuna AradhyaJohn E Preece
Mar 28, 2019·PloS One·Jorge Velásquez-TibatáMaría C Londoño-Murcia
Feb 13, 2019·Science Advances·Miguel B AraújoCarsten Rahbek
Dec 5, 2019·Scientific Reports·Isabel Queirós NevesCristiane Bastos-Silveira
Sep 15, 2017·Ecology and Evolution·Geiziane TessaroloJoaquin Hortal
Jul 13, 2018·The Science of the Total Environment·Laura PoggioAlessandro Gimona
Aug 16, 2021·Global Change Biology·Charles W DavisonNaia Morueta-Holme
Dec 8, 2021·Neotropical Entomology·Victoria WerenkrautPaula Nilda Fergnani

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