[{"id":458,"title":"Restricted SDM: Predicting habitat suitability from species occurrence only","sha":"b9808ad62f5b87aa725e750bce7c4b9a","user_id":null,"state":"published","body":"Species Distribution Models are commonly used to predict species habitat suitability. The data needed to build such a model usually consist of a range of environmental variables together with a target variable - the species occurrence itself (often in presence/absence format, or just presence).\r\n\r\nAn interesting idea that can be applied to this problem is to rely on the species occurrence only. The assumption here is similar to a market basket analysis: similar species should co-occur, much likely to a shopping cart containing frequently purchased together items, such as ketchup and french fries. In this case our features become different species, and our observations are different sites where they are either present or absent. We can use such a model to predict the probability of a new species occurring when some of the others have already been identified. Possible difficulties in using this approach are class imbalance, large dimensionality and sparsity in the data. Dimensionality reduction techniques such as PCA can be useful in this case and improve the prediction performance.\r\n\r\nAttached are some preliminary results, predicting the occurrence of the Great horned owl (_Bubo virginianus_) from the [ebird](https://ebird.org/) reference dataset.","created_at":"2018-05-10T12:10:40.017Z","updated_at":"2018-05-18T06:01:14.299Z","zenodo_id":1248991,"doi":"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1248991","subject":null,"tags":["species distribution modeling","ecological niche modeling","biodiversity"],"vote_count":0,"view_count":1,"score":0.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":true,"attachment_file_name":"roc_curves.png","attachment_content_type":"image/png","attachment_file_size":36897,"attachment_updated_at":"2018-05-10T12:10:39.966Z"},{"id":873,"title":"Why do we need forest towns with their own local governments?","sha":"0a51f2f105bf536b340ddbde0d9c1f01","user_id":null,"state":"published","body":"Forests are vital to life on Earth. But forests are rapidly disappearing. The concern is that elected officials must answer to voters and even party donors. In terms of economic gain, both voters and funders benefit from forest destruction. Local, provincial, and federal governments will be reluctant to enact strict regulations, causing dissatisfaction or criticism from both groups.\r\n\r\nThe solution is independent forest local governments, whose main goal is to protect their permanent residents, i.e. animal and plant species. Forested areas should be treated as temporary tourist areas with no permanent resident status for humans. Tourists, wildlife photographers, media and entertainment professionals, and others must pay to stay in these forest towns. During their stay, they are bound by the forest towns' laws, which are designed to protect permanent residents. Infractions result in fines and even deportation from the forest towns. The funds raised can go towards animal and plant welfare projects, as well as forest town survival.\r\n\r\nThe forest government may include ecologists, lawyers, or citizens. They primarily enact laws and regulations for permanent residents (i.e., animals and plants). Hiring of forest police and other officials And raising funds for the permanent residents' welfare.","created_at":"2021-07-23T10:25:11.535Z","updated_at":"2021-09-13T06:00:54.868Z","zenodo_id":5502224,"doi":"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5502224","subject":null,"tags":["biodiversity","climate change","environment","animal welfare","plant protection"],"vote_count":0,"view_count":1,"score":0.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":true,"attachment_file_name":"Manuscript.pdf","attachment_content_type":"application/pdf","attachment_file_size":183628,"attachment_updated_at":"2021-07-23T10:25:11.515Z"},{"id":912,"title":"Cultural impacts of the biodiversity crisis and our disconnection from nature","sha":"fa8fea4b1199b93af46f0ca87ab5fda9","user_id":null,"state":"published","body":"Dramatic declines in global biodiversity -- i.e., the Biodiversity Crisis -- continue to motivate research on the causes and consequences of environmental degradation. High profile papers on declines in insect diversity and abundance, for example, allude to cascading negative effects on ecosystem services, including nutrient cycling, pollination, natural control of pests, and on the survival of insectivores. In a parallel and similarly complex (and probably compounding) phenomenon, sometimes referred to as Nature Deficit Disorder, humans are spending less time connecting with the natural world. These phenomena are likely having profound, measurable impacts on humans' creative cultural output.\r\n\r\nInspiration, for example, is another \"service\" that may be impacted by the phenomena described above. Insects, through their behaviors, colors, extended phenotypes, and ecological interactions, frequently catalyze and influence creativity. Insects are beautiful, lively, tranquilizing, scary, annoying, funny, etc. Fewer encounters with these arthropods, however, may lead to losses in their representation in art, poetry, music, dance, and biomimicry. Analysis of cultural outputs over time might already reveal signatures of degradation that echo declines seen in the natural world: references are less sophisticated, perhaps, and fewer taxa are represented. Contemporary references may also have a different tone (wistful or negative) than historical references.","created_at":"2022-02-11T16:40:09.322Z","updated_at":"2022-02-26T06:00:44.361Z","zenodo_id":6288546,"doi":"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6288546","subject":null,"tags":["biodiversity","culture","poetry","literature","art","insects","arthropods"],"vote_count":0,"view_count":1,"score":0.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":true,"attachment_file_name":null,"attachment_content_type":null,"attachment_file_size":null,"attachment_updated_at":null},{"id":554,"title":"Towards a unified framework for studying the impact of linear infrastructures","sha":"dccdc384e08088258406f10565ba060e","user_id":null,"state":"published","body":"Linear infrastructures such as roads, railways and power lines have considerable negative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems ([van der Ree et al. 2015](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781118568170); [Borda-de-Água et al. 2017](https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319574950); [D’Amico et al. 2018](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13280-018-1025-z)). All these impacts, including among others non-natural mortality and fragmentation, have been traditionally studied by focusing on single infrastructures (e.g. 1: bird collisions with power lines, [Barrientos et al. 2011](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2011.01699.x); e.g. 2: road-avoidance responses by ungulates, [D’Amico et al. 2016](https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.12572)). Nevertheless, most species can simultaneously suffer from negative impacts due to different infrastructures (e.g. 1: both roads and power lines determine high mortality rates for the little bustard *Tetrax tetrax*, [Marcelino et al. 2018](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bird-conservation-international/article/tracking-data-of-the-little-bustard-tetrax-tetrax-in-iberia-shows-high-anthropogenic-mortality/643D8349348F42F1962CB0188A4B886A); e.g. 2: the reindeer *Rangifer tarandus* generally avoid both roads and power lines, [Nellemann et al. 2001](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320701000829)). As a consequence, we claim that considering at the same time all linear infrastructures would substantially improve our understanding of related impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems, thus providing more robust outcomes for planning both mitigation measures and more sustainable human developments.","created_at":"2019-01-08T17:13:03.501Z","updated_at":"2019-03-02T17:59:16.959Z","zenodo_id":2548952,"doi":"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2548952","subject":null,"tags":["ecology","conservation biology","road ecology","biodiversity","railway ecology","landscape ecology","wildlife"],"vote_count":1,"view_count":1,"score":1.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":true,"attachment_file_name":null,"attachment_content_type":null,"attachment_file_size":null,"attachment_updated_at":null}]