| Literature DB >> 29740002 |
Syed Amir Manzoor1, Geoffrey Griffiths2, Martin Lukac3,4.
Abstract
Species distribution models have been used to predict the distribution of invasive species for conservation planning. Understanding spatial transferability of niche predictions is critical to promote species-habitat conservation and forecasting areas vulnerable to invasion. Grain size of predictor variables is an important factor affecting the accuracy and transferability of species distribution models. Choice of grain size is often dependent on the type of predictor variables used and the selection of predictors sometimes rely on data availability. This study employed the MAXENT species distribution model to investigate the effect of the grain size on model transferability for an invasive plant species. We modelled the distribution of Rhododendron ponticum in Wales, U.K. and tested model performance and transferability by varying grain size (50 m, 300 m, and 1 km). MAXENT-based models are sensitive to grain size and selection of variables. We found that over-reliance on the commonly used bioclimatic variables may lead to less accurate models as it often compromises the finer grain size of biophysical variables which may be more important determinants of species distribution at small spatial scales. Model accuracy is likely to increase with decreasing grain size. However, successful model transferability may require optimization of model grain size.Entities:
Year: 2018 PMID: 29740002 PMCID: PMC5940916 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-25437-1
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Sci Rep ISSN: 2045-2322 Impact factor: 4.379
Predictor variables used in the study.
| VS-1 | VS-2 | VS-3 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grain Size 1 km | Grain Size 300 m | Grain Size 50 m | |||
| Predictor Variable | Unit | Predictor Variable | Unit | Predictor Variable | Unit |
| Altitude | m | Altitude | m | Altitude | m |
| Aspect | ° | Aspect | ° | Aspect | ° |
| Slope | ° | Slope | ° | Slope | ° |
| Land Cover | Land Cover | Land Cover | |||
| Distance from water channels | m | Distance from water channels | m | Distance from water channels | m |
| Mean Diurnal Range (monthly (max temp - min temp)) | °C | ||||
| Isothermality (BIO2/BIO7)* 100 | |||||
| Mean Temperature of Driest Quarter | °C | ||||
| Precipitation Seasonality (Coefficient of Variation) | C of V | ||||
Acronyms VS-1, VS-2 & VS-3 refer to variable set 1, variable set 2 & variable set 3 respectively.
Allocation of predictor variables to ‘variable categories’ and ‘variable sets’.
| Predictor variable/s | Grain Size | Source | Variables Category | Variable Set |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 bioclimatic variables | 1 km | WorldClim - Global Climate Data | BCV | VS-1 |
| Distance from water channels | 1 km | Edina Digimap Ordnance Survey | BCV | VS-1 |
| Land Cover | 300 m | Edina Digimap Ordnance Survey | BPV | VS-2 |
| Topography (Altitude, Aspect, Slope) | 300 m | Shuttle Radar Topography Mission USGS | BPV | VS-2 |
| Distance from water channels | 300 m | Edina Digimap Ordnance Survey | BPV | VS-2 |
| Land Cover | 50 m | Edina Digimap Ordnance Survey | BPV | VS-3 |
| Topography (Altitude, Aspect, Slope) | 50 m | Edina Digimap Ordnance Survey | BPV | VS-3 |
| Distance from water channels | 50 m | Edina Digimap Ordnance Survey | BPV | VS-3 |
Acronyms BCV, BPV, VS-1, VS-2 & VS-3 refer to Bioclimatic Variables, Biophysical Variables, Variable Set 1, Variable Set 2 & Variable Set 3 respectively.
Figure 1Area Under Curve (AUC) and Continuous Boyce Index (CBI) comparing prediction accuracy of Maxent-based models in Snowdonia National Park using three predictor variable sets at 1 km (VS-1), 300 m (VS-2) and 50 m (VS-3) resolution.
Figure 2Rhododendron ponticum habitat suitability maps at 1 km, 300 m and 50 m resolutions generated in ArcGIS 10.5 (ESRI, Redlands, CA, USA, www.esri.com). A spatial distribution model was trained in Snowdonia National Park and transferred to the Brecon Beacons National Park. Blue dots indicate verified occurrence records of the species.