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USGS · 70048487

Use and interpretation of climate envelope models: a practical guide

James I. Watling·Laura A. Brandt·Frank J. Mazzotti·Stephanie S. Romañach
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Abstract

This guidebook is intended to provide a practical overview of climate envelope modeling for conservation professionals and natural resource managers. The material is intended for people with little background or experience in climate envelope modeling who want to better understand and interpret models developed by others and the results generated by such models, or want to do some modeling themselves. This is not an exhaustive review of climate envelope modeling, but rather a brief introduction to some key concepts in the discipline. Readers interested in a more in-depth treatment of much of the material presented here are referred to an excellent book, Mapping Species Distributions: Spatial Inference and Prediction by Janet Franklin. Also, a recent review (Araújo & Peterson 2012) provides an excellent, though more technical, discussion of many of the issues dealt with here. Here we treat selected topics from a practical perspective, using minimal jargon to explain and illustrate some of the many issues that one has to be aware of when using climate envelope models. When we do introduce specialized terminology in the guidebook, we bold the term when it is first used; a glossary of these terms is included at the back of the guidebook.

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James I. Watling, Laura A. Brandt, Frank J. Mazzotti, Stephanie S. Romañach. 2013. Use and interpretation of climate envelope models: a practical guide. https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/70048487

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