Pushing the limits in marine species distribution modelling: lessons from the land present challenges and opportunities

By L. Robinson, Jane Elith, A. Hobday, Richard G. Pearson, B. Kendall, Hugh P. Possingham, Anthony J. Richardson. 2011

475 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Aim Species distribution models (SDMs) have been used to address a wide range of theoretical and applied questions in the terrestrial realm, but marine-based applications remain relatively scarce. In this review, we consider how conceptual and practical issues associated with terrestrial SDMs apply to a range of marine organisms and highlight the challenges relevant to improving marine SDMs. Location We include studies from both marine and terrestrial systems that encompass many geographic locations around the globe. Methods We first performed a literature search and analysis of marine and terrestrial SDMs in ISI Web of Science to assess trends and applications. Using knowledge from terrestrial applications, we critically evaluate the application of SDMs in marine systems in the context of ecological factors (dispersal, species interactions, aggregation and ontogenetic shifts) and practical considerations (data quality, alternative modelling approaches and model validation) that facilitate or create difficulties for model application. Results The relative importance of ecological factors to be considered when applying SDMs varies among terrestrial and marine organisms. Correctly incorporating dispersal is frequently considered an important issue for terrestrial models, but because there is greater potential for dispersal in the ocean, it is often less of a concern in marine SDMs. By contrast, ontogenetic shifts and feeding have received little attention in terrestrial SDM applications, but these factors are important to many marine SDMs. Opportunities also exist for applying more advanced SDM approaches in the marine realm, including mechanistic ecophysiological models, where water balance and heat transfer equations are simpler for some marine organisms relative to their terrestrial counterparts. Main conclusions SDMs have generally been under-utilized in the marine realm relative to terrestrial applications. Correlative SDM methods should be tested on a range of marine organisms, and we suggest further development of methods that address ontogenetic shifts and feeding interactions. We anticipate developments in, and cross-fertilization between, coupled correlative and process-based SDMs, mechanistic eco-physiological SDMs, and spatial population dynamic models for climate change and species invasion applications in particular. Comparisons of the outputs of different model types will provide insight that is useful for improved spatial management of marine species. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Subfields: Ecological Modeling, Ecology, Genetics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/aa229f5d07069c89fdcab43d6e1891feb732d751

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Citations in the corpus

Risk Analysis and Bioeconomics of Invasive Species to Inform Policy and Management (2016, background): “SDM is increasingly used in risk assessments of nonindigenous species in terrestrial (128), marine (129), and freshwater habitats (e.”
A Systematic Review of Marine-Based Species Distribution Models (SDMs) with Recommendations for Best Practice (2017, background): “A previous literature review of marine SDMs (Robinson et al., 2011) considered the conceptual and practical issues related to terrestrial and marine SDMs, and highlighted the relevant challenges for improving marine applications.”
Predicting the distribution of vulnerable marine ecosystems in the deep sea using presence-background models (2014, background): “However, whilst numerous terrestrial examples exist, the adoption of SDMs for use in the marine environment is still comparatively rare (Robinson et al., 2011).”
Comparison of five modelling techniques to predict the spatial distribution and abundance of seabirds (2012, background): “Several unresolved issues exist in seabird distribution models regarding heterogeneity in spatiotemporal scales that may be informed by advances in other environments (Robinson et al., 2011; Schröder, 2008).”
Using species distribution model to predict the impact of climate change on the potential distribution of Japanese whiting Sillago japonica (2019, background): “The application of SDMs in the terrestrial realm has been common, and their use for marine organisms has received increasingly more attention in recent years (Cheung et al., 2009; Robinson et al., 2011; Marshall et al., 2014).”
Projecting changes in the distribution and productivity of living marine resources: A critical review of the suite of modelling approaches used in the large European project VECTORS (2016, methodology): “One suggestion to improve modelling capacity is to build modular frameworks allowing different models to be coupled (the assemblage model approach recommended by various authors (Planque et al., 2011b, Robinson et al., 2011 and Kempf et al., 2013)).”
Modelling climate change impacts on marine fish populations: process-based integration of ocean warming, acidification and other environmental drivers (2016, background): “…in terrestrial applications, especially with respect to 850 dynamic (state-dependent) integration of population and community level processes 851 (Robinson et al., 2011, Fordham et al., 2013) and to physiological limits and adaptive 852 evolution (Catullo et al., 2015), although not all concepts…”
The distribution of deep-sea sponge aggregations in the North Atlantic and implications for their effective spatial management (2016, background): “…first step in developing environmental management strategies, predictive habitat modelling provides a means to produce full coverage spatial data where distribution information is lacking (Elith and Leathwick 2009; Galparsoro et al., 2009; Dambach and Rodder 2011; , , Robinson et al., 2011).”
Species Distribution Modeling and Ecological Niche Modeling: Getting the Concepts Right (2012, methodology): “Our work was supported by a grant from Microsoft Research (#47780).”
Phytoplankton niches, traits and eco-evolutionary responses to global environmental change (2012, unknown): “This approach has not been widely applied to marine taxa, despite being well suited to them by virtue of having stable, highly predictable, and wellconnected environments (Robinson et al. 2011).”