Abundance distributions for tree species in Great Britain: A two-stage approach to modeling abundance using species distribution modeling and random forest.

ABSTRACT: High-quality abundance data are expensive and time-consuming to collect and often highly limited in availability. Nonetheless, accurate, high-resolution abundance distributions are essential for many ecological applications ranging from species conservation to epidemiology. Producing models that can predict abundance well, with good resolution over large areas, has therefore been an important aim in ecology, but poses considerable challenges. We present a two-stage approach to modeling abundance, combining two established techniques. First, we produce ensemble species distribution models (SDMs) of trees in Great Britain at a fine resolution, using much more common presence-absence data and key environmental variables. We then use random forest regression to predict abundance by linking the

SUBMITTER: Hill L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5306018 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature