Real-time species distribution models for conservation and management of natural resources in marine environments

Skov, Henrik; Heinänen, Stefan; Thaxter, Chris B.; Williams, Adrian E.; Lohier, Sabine; Banks, Alex N.

doi:10.3354/meps11572

Cited by 22 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…However, when fineresolution dynamic predictor variables from high-resolution hydrodynamic models or remote sensing (Blondeau-Patissier et al 2014) are available together with sufficiently detailed information on species abundance, the dynamic coupling between the seabird distribution and the natural variability of their habitat can be modeled in (near) realtime. For example, dynamic species distribution models for red-throated divers Gavia stellata in the outer Thames estuary, United Kingdom, confirmed their tight association with frontal zones (Skov et al 2016).…”

Section: Sdms Of Seabird Distributions At Seamentioning

confidence: 87%

Avian SDMs: current state, challenges, and opportunities

Engler

Stiels

Schidelko

et al. 2017

Journal of Avian Biology

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Quantifying species distributions using species distribution models (SDMs) has emerged as a central method in modern biogeography. These empirical models link species occurrence data with spatial environmental information. Since their emergence in the 1990s, thousands of scientific papers have used SDMs to study organisms across the entire tree of life, with birds commanding considerable attention. Here, we review the current state of avian SDMs and point to challenges and future opportunities for specific applications, ranging from conservation biology, invasive species and predicting seabird distributions, to more general topics such as modeling avian diversity, niche evolution and seasonal distributions at a biogeographic scale. While SDMs have been criticized for being phenomenological in nature, and for their inability to explicitly account for a variety of processes affecting populations, we conclude that they remain a powerful tool to learn about past, current, and future species distributions -at least when their limitations and assumptions are recognized and addressed. We close our review by providing an outlook on prospects and synergies with other disciplines in which avian SDMs can play an important role.

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Section: Sdms Of Seabird Distributions At Seamentioning

confidence: 87%

Avian SDMs: current state, challenges, and opportunities

Engler

Stiels

Schidelko

et al. 2017

Journal of Avian Biology

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“…Habitat models have provided novel tools for assessing and predicting how animals interact with their environment and are increasingly used for ecological and conservation-relevant research (Barbet-Massin, Jiguet, Albert, & Thuiller, 2012;Buckley et al, 2010;Dambach & Rödder, 2011;Elith & Leathwick, 2009;Studwell et al, 2017;Zydelis et al, 2011). Most recently, marine SDMs have been used to identify critical habitat of understudied populations, improve our understanding of distributional shifts in habitat under changing ocean conditions, and support commercial and protected species management (Carvalho, Brito, Crespo, Watts, & Possingham, 2011;Eguchi, Benson, Foley, & Forney, 2017;Hazen et al, 2016;Hobday, Hartog, Spillman, Alves, & Hilborn, 2011;Hooker et al, 2011;Skov et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing habitat suitability for a central‐place forager in a dynamic marine environment

Briscoe

Fossette

Scales

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Characterizing habitat suitability for a marine predator requires an understanding of the environmental heterogeneity and variability over the range in which a population moves during a particular life cycle. Female California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) are central‐place foragers and are particularly constrained while provisioning their young. During this time, habitat selection is a function of prey availability and proximity to the rookery, which has important implications for reproductive and population success. We explore how lactating females may select habitat and respond to environmental variability over broad spatial and temporal scales within the California Current System. We combine near‐real‐time remotely sensed satellite oceanography, animal tracking data (n = 72) from November to February over multiple years (2003–2009) and Generalized Additive Mixed Models (GAMMs) to determine the probability of sea lion occurrence based on environmental covariates. Results indicate that sea lion presence is associated with cool (<14°C), productive waters, shallow depths, increased eddy activity, and positive sea‐level anomalies. Predictive habitat maps generated from these biophysical associations suggest winter foraging areas are spatially consistent in the nearshore and offshore environments, except during the 2004–2005 winter, which coincided with an El Niño event. Here, we show how a species distribution model can provide broadscale information on the distribution of female California sea lions during an important life history stage and its implications for population dynamics and spatial management.

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“…After the ID process, the census information is transferred into standard data tables and used for the calculation of population densities at grid-cell or at survey-area level, and for geostatistical analyses related to habitat use (e.g. Skov et al, 2016) and potential displacement effects. Randomized samples of the photographic material containing classified georeferenced objects can be reciprocally quality controlled by external, independent reviewers.…”

Section: Species Identification (Id) and Quality Assurancementioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring Seabirds and Marine Mammals by Georeferenced Aerial Photography

Kemper¹,

Weidauer²,

Coppack³

2016

Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci.

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ABSTRACT:The assessment of anthropogenic impacts on the marine environment is challenged by the accessibility, accuracy and validity of biogeographical information. Offshore wind farm projects require large-scale ecological surveys before, during and after construction, in order to assess potential effects on the distribution and abundance of protected species. The robustness of site-specific population estimates depends largely on the extent and design of spatial coverage and the accuracy of the applied census technique. Standard environmental assessment studies in Germany have so far included aerial visual surveys to evaluate potential impacts of offshore wind farms on seabirds and marine mammals. However, low flight altitudes, necessary for the visual classification of species, disturb sensitive bird species and also hold significant safety risks for the observers. Thus, aerial surveys based on high-resolution digital imagery, which can be carried out at higher (safer) flight altitudes (beyond the rotor-swept zone of the wind turbines) have become a mandatory requirement, technically solving the problem of distant-related observation bias. A purpose-assembled imagery system including medium-format cameras in conjunction with a dedicated geo-positioning platform delivers series of orthogonal digital images that meet the current technical requirements of authorities for surveying marine wildlife at a comparatively low cost. At a flight altitude of 425 m, a focal length of 110 mm, implemented forward motion compensation (FMC) and exposure times ranging between 1/1600 and 1/1000 s, the twin-camera system generates high quality 16 bit RGB images with a ground sampling distance (GSD) of 2 cm and an image footprint of 155 x 410 m. The image files are readily transferrable to a GIS environment for further editing, taking overlapping image areas and areas affected by glare into account. The imagery can be routinely screened by the human eye guided by purpose-programmed software to distinguish biological from non-biological signals. Each detected seabird or marine mammal signal is identified to species level or assigned to a species group and automatically saved into a geo-database for subsequent quality assurance, geo-statistical analyses and data export to third-party users. The relative size of a detected object can be accurately measured which provides key information for species-identification. During the development and testing of this system until 2015, more than 40 surveys have produced around 500.000 digital aerial images, of which some were taken in specially protected areas (SPA) of the Baltic Sea and thus include a wide range of relevant species. Here, we present the technical principles of this comparatively new survey approach and discuss the key methodological challenges related to optimizing survey design and workflow in view of the pending regulatory requirements for effective environmental impact assessments.

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Real-time species distribution models for conservation and management of natural resources in marine environments

Cited by 22 publications

References 31 publications

Avian SDMs: current state, challenges, and opportunities

Avian SDMs: current state, challenges, and opportunities

Characterizing habitat suitability for a central‐place forager in a dynamic marine environment

Monitoring Seabirds and Marine Mammals by Georeferenced Aerial Photography

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