Species discovery and dental ecometrics: good news, bad news and recommendations for the future

Wilson, Oscar E.; Saarinen, Juha

doi:10.1080/08912963.2022.2060102

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 86 publications

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“…The PHYLACINE present-natural range of the Asian elephant ( Elephas maximus ), WorldClim bioclimatic variables, and CCSM4-based ETCCDI extremes indices were used to model global habitat suitability for E. maximus under present and future climatic conditions, to assess the species’ potential for conservation translocation 87 . Finally, biogeographic realms were used in a study of the sensitivity of ecometric estimates of present climate to the discovery of large, herbivorous mammal species over the past several centuries 88 . Results of these studies confirmed the biogeographic integrity of these component datasets; however, this is the first publication of the full Eco-ISEA3H database product and development methodology.…”

Section: Technical Validationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eco-ISEA3H, a machine learning ready spatial database for ecometric and species distribution modeling

Mechenich

Žliobaitė

2023

Sci Data

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We present the Eco-ISEA3H database, a compilation of global spatial data characterizing climate, geology, land cover, physical and human geography, and the geographic ranges of nearly 900 large mammalian species. The data are tailored for machine learning (ML)-based ecological modeling, and are intended primarily for continental- to global-scale ecometric and species distribution modeling. Such models are trained on present-day data and applied to the geologic past, or to future scenarios of climatic and environmental change. Model training requires integrated global datasets, describing species’ occurrence and environment via consistent observational units. The Eco-ISEA3H database incorporates data from 17 sources, and includes 3,033 variables. The database is built on the Icosahedral Snyder Equal Area (ISEA) aperture 3 hexagonal (3H) discrete global grid system (DGGS), which partitions the Earth’s surface into equal-area hexagonal cells. Source data were incorporated at six nested ISEA3H resolutions, using scripts developed and made available here. We demonstrate the utility of the database in a case study analyzing the bioclimatic envelopes of ten large, widely distributed mammalian species.

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Section: Technical Validationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eco-ISEA3H, a machine learning ready spatial database for ecometric and species distribution modeling

Mechenich

Žliobaitė

2023

Sci Data

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Ecometrics demonstrates that the functional dental traits of carnivoran communities are filtered by climate

Siciliano‐Martina,

McGuire,

Hurtado‐Materon

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Terrestrial carnivorans, with their diverse diets and unique adaptations such as the carnassial tooth, offer insights into the connections between functional traits and the climatic and environmental conditions they inhabit. They shed light on functional trait‐environment relationships at the highest trophic levels across a broad range of environmental conditions. In this study, we evaluate the relationship between relative blade length (RBL) of the lower carnassial tooth, a key dietary adaptation among terrestrial carnivorans for slicing and grinding food items, and climate. We propose RBL as an ecometric trait and test the hypothesis that community‐level RBL is correlated with climate and mediated by environmental effects on food availability. Our findings show that communities with higher mean and broader variance of RBL are typically located in warmer and wetter climates, suggesting a relationship between carnivoran dietary diversity and climate. Conversely, communities with a lower mean and narrower variance of RBL predominantly occupy cooler, drier places. This indicates that community‐level carnivoran dietary traits have the potential to serve as indicators of environmental conditions. Given the robust fossil record associated with carnivorans, we also show how RBL can be used as a proxy for reconstructing paleoclimates by examining trait change at seven sites in North America to estimate changes in temperature and precipitation over time in relation to changes in carnivoran community assembly. Understanding the nature of trait‐environment relationships can help us anticipate biological impacts of ongoing environmental change and the geographic regions at the greatest risk of ecological disruption.

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An assessment of body size and dietary biases in fossil mammal assemblages of the Pleistocene of Eurasia

Parker,

Pushkina,

Liu

2024

Annales Zoologici Fennici

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Species discovery and dental ecometrics: good news, bad news and recommendations for the future

Cited by 4 publications

References 86 publications

Eco-ISEA3H, a machine learning ready spatial database for ecometric and species distribution modeling

Eco-ISEA3H, a machine learning ready spatial database for ecometric and species distribution modeling

Ecometrics demonstrates that the functional dental traits of carnivoran communities are filtered by climate

An assessment of body size and dietary biases in fossil mammal assemblages of the Pleistocene of Eurasia

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