Biodiversity (terrestrial, aquatic)
Species distribution modeling (SDM) is a method that uses statistical analysis to predict where a species may be found based on environmental factors. SDM aims to understand the relationship between the presence or absence of a species and its environment. In addition, it can forecast where a species may be found in the future. However, SDM can only provide predictions and cannot confirm the presence of a species in a specific area, which would need to be confirmed through field observations. SDM is commonly applied in ecology and supports conservation and management decisions.
Maxent is an ecological niche model that predicts species distribution by using environmental data such as land cover and georeferenced field data on species and machine learning. A probability map is generated that indicates the likely presence of a specific species.
Wallace is an ecological modeling platform that helps researchers study the distribution and niches of different species, guiding them to follow best practices at each modeling step. It is developed using R and the shiny package that can automatically import species occurrences data from such as GBIF or VerNet or environmental factors such as climate data to create maps of suitable habitats. Modeling of species occurrence can be performed using the Maxent or Bioclim model. Wallace has been used in conservation applications such as conservation biology, managing invasive species, understanding zoonotic diseases, and studying the effects of climate change.
Circuitscape is an open-source program in Julia that uses circuit theory to model the ecological connectivity of gene flow plants and animals in heterogeneous landscapes. The landscape is represented as conductive surfaces, with low resistance assigned to landscape features most permeable to movement or promote flow. In contrast, highly resistance areas are considered movement barriers.
Omniscape
Related Ecosystems and Landscapes
InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs) is a collection of open-source software models that provide decision-makers with the tools to quantify and map the value of ecosystem services. The toolbox comprises ecosystem service models for terrestrial, freshwater, marine, and coastal ecosystems, including the Globio Model, which provides a biodiversity index based on mean species abundance and environmental stressors, and habitat quality and risk assessment.
Artificial Intelligence for Environment & Sustainability (ARIES) is an open-source modeling framework developed by the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3). ARIES uses AI and machine learning to automate data and model integration. A key component of ARIES is consistent semantics, which means a clearly defined description of the data and the model involved. ARIES for SEEA Explorer allows users to generate quick, standard, scalable, and assess ecosystem accounts for their area of interest in accordance with SEEA Ecosystem Accounting framework.
- Visualization Tools
- Analytics
- Insights
- Biodiversity Conservation – e.g., Protected Areas
- Environmental due-diligence – e.g., ESS6-related for biodiversity in landscape/ecosystems context