High correlation between species‐level environmental data estimates extracted from IUCN expert range maps and from GBIF occurrence data

Alhajeri, Bader H.; Fourcade, Yoan

doi:10.1111/jbi.13619

Cited by 37 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 66 publications

(117 reference statements)

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“…For the most part values of environmental variables derived from the two different sources in our analyses were highly correlated across species, which we might expect given the overlap in points and ranges due to the constraints we placed on including points for analysis (no further than 500 km from published range boundaries). These results mirror those of Alhajeri and Fourcade () in a similar analysis based on data for 1191 species of rodents, who observed high correlations across all 19 WorldClim variables plus elevation in a comparison of GBIF points to IUCN range maps. Using all of a species’ GBIF points regardless of range boundaries, Alhajeri and Fourcade () observed a median distance between centroids of GBIF and IUCN data of 224 km, remarkably close to our observed 234 km.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Areas of introduction were derived from information presented in HBW (del Hoyo et al ). In a similar analysis for mammals, Alhajeri and Fourcade () created two data sets from GBIF, one containing all points after cleaning regardless of proximity to the range edge or status as introductions, the other retaining only those species’ points that fell within range polygons.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because species distributed across small spatial extents likely experience a smaller range of environmental conditions, it is possible that their correlations between range‐based and point‐based medians might be higher (Alhajeri and Fourcade ); thus we repeated these correlations within each of three groups of species based on the number of 10′ × 10′ cells included within their range maps. As there were no obvious breaks in the frequency distribution of range sizes, particularly at sizes < 10 000 cells, we simply classified them as small (1–1000 cells, n = 132 species), medium (1000–10 000 cells, n = 117 species) and large (> 10 000 cells, n = 40 species).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Regardless, to the extent that environmental associations do differ between the two, we can expect to see differences in conclusions we might draw about life history patterns, or for that matter in any other macroecological analysis that relies on these associations (e.g. species distribution modeling; Beck et al , Fourcade , Alhajeri and Fourcade ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…What remains less investigated is the extent to which range maps and point‐based data actually differ in their representation of a species’ environmental associations (Alhajeri and Fourcade ). For example, if a range map polygon contains a considerable proportion of otherwise unsuitable environmental conditions for a species, then we expect to see a discrepancy between mean or median values of the relevant variables calculated over the entire range versus those calculated just from known occupied points within the range.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Connecting species’ geographical distributions to environmental variables: range maps versus observed points of occurrence

Rotenberry

Balasubramaniam

2020

Ecography

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Connecting the geographical occurrence of a species with underlying environmental variables is fundamental for many analyses of life history evolution and for modeling species distributions for both basic and practical ends. However, raw distributional information comes principally in two forms: points of occurrence (specific geographical coordinates where a species has been observed), and expert-prepared range maps. Each form has potential short-comings: range maps tend to overestimate the true occurrence of a species, whereas occurrence points (because of their frequent nonrandom spatial distribution) tend to underestimate it. Whereas previous comparisons of the two forms have focused on how they may differ when estimating species richness, less attention has been paid to the extent to which the two forms actually differ in their representation of a species' environmental associations. We assess such differences using the globally distributed avian order Galliformes (294 species). For each species we overlaid range maps obtained from IUCN and point-of-occurrence data obtained from GBIF on global maps of four climate variables and elevation. Over all species, the median difference in distribution centroids was 234 km, and median values of all five environmental variables were highly correlated, although there were a few species outliers for each variable. We also acquired species' elevational distribution mid-points (mid-point between minimum and maximum elevational extent) from the literature; median elevations from point occurrences and ranges were consistently lower (median −420 m) than mid-points. We concluded that in most cases occurrence points were likely to produce better estimates of underlying environmental variables than range maps, although differences were often slight. We also concluded that elevational range mid-points were biased high, and that elevation distributions based on either points or range maps provided better estimates.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Connecting species’ geographical distributions to environmental variables: range maps versus observed points of occurrence

Rotenberry

Balasubramaniam

2020

Ecography

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Will predicted positive effects of climate change be enough to reverse declines of the regionally Endangered Natterjack toad in Ireland?

Reyne

McGowan

Flanagan

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

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Land cover and climatic conditions as potential drivers of the raccoon (Procyon lotor) distribution in North America and Europe

2023

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The raccoon is listed among the invasive alien species of EU concern requiring management actions. Projections of its global distribution have been mainly based on climatic variables so far. In this study, we aim to address the impact of land cover (LC) on the raccoon distribution in North America and Europe. First, we identified the LC types in which the observation sites are predominantly located to derive preferred LC types. Second, we used an ecological niche modelling (ENM) approach to evaluate the predictive power of climatic and LC information on the current distribution patterns of raccoons in both ranges. Raccoons seem to be more often associated to forested areas and mixed landscapes, including cropland and urban areas, but underrepresented in vegetation-poor areas, with patterns largely coinciding in both ranges. In order to compare the predictive power of climate variables and land cover variables, we conducted principal component analyses of all variables in the respective variable sets (climate variables and land cover variables) and used all PC variables that together explain 90% of the total variance in the respective set as predictors. Land cover only models resulted in patchy patterns in the projected habitat suitabilities and showed a higher performance compared to the climate only models in both ranges. In Europe, the land cover habitat suitability seems to exceed the current observed occurrences, which could indicate a further spread potential of the raccoon in Europe. We conclude that information on land cover types are important drivers, which explain well the spatial patterns of the raccoon. Consideration of land cover could benefit efforts to control invasive carnivores and contribute to better management of biodiversity, but also human and animal health.

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High correlation between species‐level environmental data estimates extracted from IUCN expert range maps and from GBIF occurrence data

Cited by 37 publications

References 66 publications

Connecting species’ geographical distributions to environmental variables: range maps versus observed points of occurrence

Connecting species’ geographical distributions to environmental variables: range maps versus observed points of occurrence

Will predicted positive effects of climate change be enough to reverse declines of the regionally Endangered Natterjack toad in Ireland?

Land cover and climatic conditions as potential drivers of the raccoon (Procyon lotor) distribution in North America and Europe

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