Discussion Questions

Concepts

• How (generally) do species distribution models work?
• What is the distinction between environmental & geographic space?
• What is the distinction between using SDMs for explanation vs. interpolation vs. extrapolation

Predictors

• How do we select predictors for SDMs (or other ecological models)?
• What should we do if we don’t have measurements of our preferred variables?

Modeling approaches

• What are some of the major categories of modeling approaches for SDMs and what are their characteristics?
• How do differences in these approaches relate to their use of explanation vs. prediction?
• How are presence only data dealt with when building models?

Challenges

• Why do you think SDMs are so popular in attempts to forecast ecological change?
• What are the challenges for making SDM based forecasts?
• How might we determine how well these forecasts perform?

Key Processes

• Should SDMs model the influence of other species and do they currently do this?
• What about other key biological processes like density dependence and dispersal?

Uncertainty

• How is uncertainty addressed in SDMs and are there areas for improvement?

Future

• What should be the next big steps in species distribution modeling?