Translating habitat class to land cover to map area of habitat of terrestrial vertebrates.
Authors
Di Marco, Moreno
Publication Date
2022-06Journal Title
Conserv Biol
ISSN
0888-8892
Publisher
Wiley
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
AO
VoR
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Lumbierres, M., Dahal, P. R., Di Marco, M., Butchart, S. H., Donald, P. F., & Rondinini, C. (2022). Translating habitat class to land cover to map area of habitat of terrestrial vertebrates.. Conserv Biol https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13851
Abstract
Area of habitat (AOH) is defined as the "habitat available to a species, that is, habitat within its range" and is calculated by subtracting areas of unsuitable land cover and elevation from the range. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Habitats Classification Scheme provides information on species habitat associations, and typically unvalidated expert opinion is used to match habitat to land-cover classes, which generates a source of uncertainty in AOH maps. We developed a data-driven method to translate IUCN habitat classes to land cover based on point locality data for 6986 species of terrestrial mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. We extracted the land-cover class at each point locality and matched it to the IUCN habitat class or classes assigned to each species occurring there. Then, we modeled each land-cover class as a function of IUCN habitat with (SSG, using) logistic regression models. The resulting odds ratios were used to assess the strength of the association between each habitat and land-cover class. We then compared the performance of our data-driven model with those from a published translation table based on expert knowledge. We calculated the association between habitat classes and land-cover classes as a continuous variable, but to map AOH as binary presence or absence, it was necessary to apply a threshold of association. This threshold can be chosen by the user according to the required balance between omission and commission errors. Some habitats (e.g., forest and desert) were assigned to land-cover classes with more confidence than others (e.g., wetlands and artificial). The data-driven translation model and expert knowledge performed equally well, but the model provided greater standardization, objectivity, and repeatability. Furthermore, our approach allowed greater flexibility in the use of the results and uncertainty to be quantified. Our model can be modified for regional examinations and different taxonomic groups.
Keywords
Article, Articles, commission and omission errors, Copernicus Global Land Service Land Cover (CGLS‐LC100), ESA Climate Change Initiative (ESA‐CCI), IUCN Habitat Classification Scheme, IUCN Red List, habitat suitability models, errores de comisión y omisión, Esquema de Clasificación de Hábitats de la UICN, Iniciativa de Cambio Climático ESA (ESA‐CCI), Lista Roja de la UICN, modelos de idoneidad de hábitat
Identifiers
cobi13851
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13851
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/331472
Rights
Licence:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
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