Combining geospatial abundance and ecological niche models to identify high-priority areas for conservation: The neglected role of broadscale interspecific competition
Article
Cavalcante, T., Weber, M.M. and Barnett, A. 2022. Combining geospatial abundance and ecological niche models to identify high-priority areas for conservation: The neglected role of broadscale interspecific competition. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution . 10, pp. 1-20. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.915325
Type | Article |
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Title | Combining geospatial abundance and ecological niche models to identify high-priority areas for conservation: The neglected role of broadscale interspecific competition |
Authors | Cavalcante, T., Weber, M.M. and Barnett, A. |
Abstract | Ecological niche models (ENMs) have become a practical and key mechanism for filling major gaps in spatial information for targeted conservation planning, particularly when only occurrence data are available. Nonetheless, accounting for abundance patterns in the internal structure of species’ ranges, and the role of biotic interactions in such models across broad scales, remains highly challenging. Our study gathered baseline information on abundance data of two Endangered Amazonian primates (Ateles chamek and Lagothrix lagotricha cana) to create geospatial abundance models using two spatial interpolation methods: inverse distance weight (IDW) and Ordinary Kriging (OK). The main goals were to: (i) test whether geospatial abundance models are correlated with habitat suitability derived from correlative ENMs; (ii) compare the strength of the abundance-suitability relationships between original and interpolated abundances; (iii) test whether interspecific competition between the two target taxa constrained abundance over broad spatial scales; and (iv) create ensemble models incorporating both habitat suitability and abundance to identify high-priority areas for conservation. We found a significant positive relationship between habitat suitability with observed and predicted abundances of woolly (L. l. cana) and spider (A. chamek) monkeys. Abundance-suitability correlations showed no significant differences when using original relative abundances compared to using IDW- and OK-abundances. We also found that the association between L. l. cana abundance and habitat suitability depended on the abundance of its putative competitor species, A. chamek. Our final models combining geospatial abundance information with ENMs were able to provide more realistic assessments of hotspots for conservation, especially when accounting for the important, but often neglected, role of interspecific competition in shaping species’ geographic ranges at broader scales. The framework developed here, including general trends in abundance patterns and suitability information, can be used as a surrogate to identify high-priority areas for conservation of poorly known species across their entire geographic ranges. |
Keywords | abundance; Ateles chamek; biotic interactions; conservation prioritization; habitat suitability; Lagothrix lagotricha cana; spatial interpolation |
Sustainable Development Goals | 15 Life on land |
Middlesex University Theme | Sustainability |
Research Group | Behavioural Biology group |
Publisher | Frontiers Media |
Journal | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
ISSN | 2296-701X |
Publication dates | |
Online | 24 Aug 2022 |
24 Aug 2022 | |
Publication process dates | |
Submitted | 07 Apr 2022 |
Accepted | 08 Aug 2022 |
Deposited | 16 Feb 2024 |
Output status | Published |
Publisher's version | License |
Copyright Statement | COPYRIGHT © 2022 Cavalcante, Weber and Barnett. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.915325 |
Related Output | |
Is supplemented by | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2022.915325/full#S10 |
Language | English |
https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/zxyvx
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