Modelling in Herpetology

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO ECOLOGICAL NICHE MODELLING THEORY

Basic Course
Lecturer: Neftalí Sillero
Centro de Investigação em Ciências Geo-Espaciais (CICGE)
Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto

To: PhD and MSc students, as well as other students and researchers.

The goal of this short course is to introduce the students to the theoretical background of Ecological Niche Modelling (ENM). Students will learn the base theory of ENM, and the most important methodologies to perform ecological niche models.

The course will consist in a series of short lectures about:

• Ecological niche terms and concepts
• Different types of ecological niche models (mechanistic and correlative models)
• Ecological niche model assumptions
• Data sources for environmental and species data
• Selection of study areas
• Selection of environmental variables
• Selection of modelling method
• Model projection in time and space
• Model validation
• Interpretation of results
• Comparison of ENMs

The course will end with a final demonstration of the performance of an ecological niche model.