TY  - GEN
A1  - Zurell, Damaris
A1  - Elith, Jane
A1  - Schröder-Esselbach, Boris
T1  - Predicting to new environments  tools for visualizing model behaviour and impacts on mapped distributions
T2  - Diversity & distributions : a journal of biological invasions and biodiversity
N2  - Data limitations can lead to unrealistic fits of predictive species distribution models (SDMs) and spurious extrapolation to novel environments. Here, we want to draw attention to novel combinations of environmental predictors that are within the sampled range of individual predictors but are nevertheless outside the sample space. These tend to be overlooked when visualizing model behaviour. They may be a cause of differing model transferability and environmental change predictions between methods, a problem described in some studies but generally not well understood. We here use a simple simulated data example to illustrate the problem and provide new and complementary visualization techniques to explore model behaviour and predictions to novel environments. We then apply these in a more complex real-world example. Our results underscore the necessity of scrutinizing model fits, ecological theory and environmental novelty.
KW  - Environmental niche
KW  - extrapolation
KW  - inflated response curves
KW  - novel environment
KW  - sampling space
KW  - species distribution models
Y1  - 2012
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1472-4642.2012.00887.x
SN  - 1366-9516
VL  - 18
IS  - 6
SP  - 628
EP  - 634
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Sarmento, Juliano Sarmento
A1  - Jeltsch, Florian
A1  - Thuiller, Wilfried
A1  - Higgins, Steven
A1  - Midgley, Guy F.
A1  - Rebelo, Anthony G.
A1  - Rouget, Mathieu
A1  - Schurr, Frank Martin
T1  - Impacts of past habitat loss and future climate change on the range dynamics of South African Proteaceae
JF  - Diversity & distributions : a journal of biological invasions and biodiversity
N2  - Aim To assess how habitat loss and climate change interact in affecting the range dynamics of species and to quantify how predicted range dynamics depend on demographic properties of species and the severity of environmental change. Location South African Cape Floristic Region. Methods We use data-driven demographic models to assess the impacts of past habitat loss and future climate change on range size, range filing and abundances of eight species of woody plants (Proteaceae). The species-specific models employ a hybrid approach that simulates population dynamics and long-distance dispersal on top of expected spatio-temporal dynamics of suitable habitat. Results Climate change was mainly predicted to reduce range size and range filling (because of a combination of strong habitat shifts with low migration ability). In contrast, habitat loss mostly decreased mean local abundance. For most species and response measures, the combination of habitat loss and climate change had the most severe effect. Yet, this combined effect was mostly smaller than expected from adding or multiplying effects of the individual environmental drivers. This seems to be because climate change shifts suitable habitats to regions less affected by habitat loss. Interspecific variation in range size responses depended mostly on the severity of environmental change, whereas responses in range filling and local abundance depended mostly on demographic properties of species. While most surviving populations concentrated in areas that remain climatically suitable, refugia for multiple species were overestimated by simply overlying habitat models and ignoring demography. Main conclusions Demographic models of range dynamics can simultaneously predict the response of range size, abundance and range filling to multiple drivers of environmental change. Demographic knowledge is particularly needed to predict abundance responses and to identify areas that can serve as biodiversity refugia under climate change. These findings highlight the need for data-driven, demographic assessments in conservation biogeography.
KW  - biodiversity refugia
KW  - CFR Proteaceae
KW  - climate change
KW  - demographic properties
KW  - habitat loss
KW  - local abundances
KW  - process-based range models
KW  - range filling
KW  - range size
KW  - species distribution models
Y1  - 2013
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12011
SN  - 1366-9516
VL  - 19
IS  - 4
SP  - 363
EP  - 376
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Hoboken
ER  -