Universidad de Jaén

The general objective of the subject is that the students understand the procedures used in developing a species distribution model (SDM), and ultimately that they are able to develop and apply a SDM to solving problems related to the geographical distribution of species (e.g. species reintroduction, distribution changes caused by climate change, migration routes of pests or invasive species).

The subject will begin with a session introducing the theoretical and practical contents. In this first session the students will chose a study case to address along the practical sessions.

The contents are structures in four blocks. The first one addresses the sources and methods to collect georeferenced data, and how to process and prepare these data for their use in SDMs.

The second block will address the theoretical bases, assumptions and conditions necessary to use different models/algorithms to build SDMs (e.g. Bioclim, DOMAIN, Mahalanobis, GLM, MaxEnt, CART). Students will apply several of these algorithms to their study cases.

In the third block we will review different common techniques to validate the models, such as the confusion matrix, k-fold validation, jackknife, AUC and TSS.

The last block will be oriented to the production of a document with the results of the SDM in the format of a technical report.

Since this is a methodological subject, the theoretical and practical contents will be addressed simultaneously. Each practical session will be preceded by a theoretical one developing the basic concepts and methods. All the sessions (theoretical and practical) will be conducted in computer rooms.

In the first session each student will chose a study case to address through the use of a SDM. In the last session each student will conduct a 10 min. oral presentation (plus 5 min. for questions). To ease the development of the study case, the practical sessions will consist in the step-by-step development of an example case, so that the students can repeat it with their own study cases.

Students with special educational needs should contact the Student Attention Service (Servicio de Atención y Ayudas al Estudiante) in order to receive the appropriate academic support

The evaluation will be based on a written exam and the presentation (written and oral) of a practical study case (technical report).