Ecological niche modelling using R (ENMR01)

Delivered by Dr. Neftali Sillero

http://www.prstatistics.com/course/ecological-niche-modelling-using-r-
enmr01/

This course will run from 16th – 20th October 2017 at SCENE field station, 
Loch Lomond national park, Scotland

The course will cover the base theory of ecological niche modelling and its 
main methodologies. By the end of this 5-day practical course, attendees 
will have the capacity to perform ecological niche models and understand 
their results, as well as to choose and apply the correct methodology 
depending on the aim of their type of study and data.

Ecological niche, species distribution, habitat distribution, or climatic 
envelope models are different names for similar mechanistic or correlative 
models, empirical or mathematical approaches to the ecological niche of a 
species, where different types of ecogeographical variables (environmental, 
topographical, human) are related with a species physiological data or 
geographical locations, in order to identify the factors limiting and 
defining the species' niche. ENMs have become popular due to the need for 
efficiency in the design and implementation of conservation management.

The course will be mainly practical, with some theoretical lectures. All 
modelling processes and calculations will be performed with R, the free 
software environment for statistical computing and graphics 
(http://www.r-project.org/). Attendees will learn to use modelling 
algorithms like Maxent, Bioclim, Domain, and logistic regressions, and R 
packages for computing ENMs like Dismo and Biomod2. Also, students will 
learn to compare different ecological niche models using the Ecospat 
package.

Course content is as follows:

Monday 16th – Classes from 09:00 to 17:00
Elementary concepts on Ecological Niche Modelling
Module 1: Introduction to ENM theory. Definition of ecological niche model; 
introduction to species ecological niche theory, types of ecological 
niches, types of ENM, diagram BAM, ENMs as approximations to species’ 
niches.
Module 2: Problems and limitations on ENM. Assumptions and uncertainties, 
equilibrium concept, niche conservatism, autocorrelation and intensity, 
sample size, correlation of environmental variables, size and form of study 
area, thresholds, model validation, model projections.
Module 3: Methods on ENM. Mechanistic and correlative models. Overlap 
Analysis, Biomod, Domain, Habitat, Distance of Mahalanobis, ENFA, GARP, 
Maxent, Logistic regression, Generalised Linear Models, Generalised 
Additive Models, Generalised Boosted Regression Models, Random Forest, 
Support Vector Machines, Artificial Neural Network.
Module 4: Conceptual and practice steps to calculate ENM. How to make an 
ENM step-by-step.
Module 5: Applications of ENM. Ecological niche identification, 
Identification of contact zones, Integration with genetical data, Species 
expansions, Species invasions, Dispersion hypotheses, Species conservation 
status, Prediction of future conservation problems, Projection to future 
and past climate change scenarios, Modelling past species, Modelling 
species richness, Road-kills, Diseases, Windmills, Location of protected 
areas.

Tuesday 17th – Classes from 09:00 to 17:00
Prepare environmental variables and run ecological niche models with dismo 
package.
Module 6: Preparing variables. Choosing environmental data sources, 
Downloading variables, Clipping variables, Aggregating variables, Checking 
pixel size, Checking raster limits, Checking NoData, Correlating variables.
Module 7: Dismo practice. How to run an ENM using the R package dismo.

Wednesday 18th – Classes from 09:00 to 17:00
Run ecological niche models with Biomod2 package and Maxent.
Module 8: Biomod2 practice. How to run an ENM using the R package Biomod2.
Module 9: Maxent practice. How to run an ENM using the R packages dismo and 
Biomod2 as well as Maxent software.

Thursday 19th – Classes from 09:00 to 17:00
Compare ecological niche models with ecospat.
Module 10: Ecospat practice. Compare statistically two different ecological 
niche models using the R package Ecospat.
Module 11: Students’ talks. Attendees will have the opportunity to present 
their own data and analyse which is the best way to successfully obtain an 
ENM.

Friday 20th – Classes from 09:00 to 17:00
Run ecological niche models with your own data.
Module 12: Final practical. In this practical, the students will run ENM 
with their own data or with a new dataset, applying all the methods showed 
during the previous days.

Please email any inquiries to [email protected] or visit our 
website www.prstatistics.com

Please feel free to distribute this material anywhere you feel is suitable

1.      MODEL BASED MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF ECOLOGICAL DATA USING R 
(January 2017) #MBMV
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/model-base-multivariate-analysis-of-
abundance-data-using-r-mbmv01/

2.      ADVANCED PYTHON FOR BIOLOGISTS (February 2017) #APYB
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/advanced-python-biologists-apyb01/

3.      STABLE ISOTOPE MIXING MODELS USING SIAR, SIBER AND MIXSIAR USING R 
(February 2017) #SIMM
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/stable-isotope-mixing-models-using-r-
simm03/

4.      NETWORK ANAYLSIS FOR ECOLOGISTS USING R (March 2017) #NTWA
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/network-analysis-ecologists-ntwa01/

5.      ADVANCES IN MULTIVAIRAITE ANALYSIS OF SPATIAL ECOLOGICAL DATA 
(April 2017) #MVSP
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/advances-in-spatial-analysis-of-
multivariate-ecological-data-theory-and-practice-mvsp02/

6.      INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICS AND R FOR BIOLOGISTS (April 2017) #IRFB
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/introduction-to-statistics-and-r-for-
biologists-irfb02/

7.      ADVANCING IN STATISTICAL MODELLING USING R (April 2017) #ADVR
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/advancing-statistical-modelling-using-r-
advr05/

8.      INTRODUCTION TO BAYESIAN HIERARCHICAL MODELLING (May 2017) #IBHM
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/introduction-to-bayesian-hierarchical-
modelling-using-r-ibhm02/

9.      GEOMETRIC MORPHOMETRICS USING R (June) #GMMR
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/geometric-morphometrics-using-r-gmmr01/

10.     MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF SPATIAL ECOLOGICAL DATA (June 2017) #MASE
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/multivariate-analysis-of-spatial-
ecological-data-using-r-mase01/

11.     BIOINFORMATICS FOR GENETICISTS AND BIOLOGISTS (July 2017) #BIGB
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/bioinformatics-for-geneticists-and-
biologists-bigb02/

12.     SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF ECOLOGICAL DATA USING R (August 2017) #SPAE
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/spatial-analysis-ecological-data-using-r-
spae05/

13.     ECOLOGICAL NICHE MODELLING (October 2017) #ENMR
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/ecological-niche-modelling-using-r-
enmr01/

14.     APPLIED BAYESIAN MODELLING FOR ECOLOGISTS AND EPIDEMIOLOGISTS 
(November 2017)
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/applied-bayesian-modelling-ecologists-
epidemiologists-abme03/

15.     GENETIC DATA ANALYSIS USING R (October TBC)
16.     INTRODUCTION TO BIOINFORMATICS USING LINUX (October TBC)
17.     LANDSCAPE (POPULATION) GENETIC DATA ANALYSIS USING R (November TBC)
18.     PHYLOGENETIC DATA ANALYSIS USING R (November TBC)
19.     INTRODUCTION TO METHODS FOR REMOTE SENSING (December 2017 TBC)
20.     ADVANCING IN STATISTICAL MODELLING USING R (December 2017 TBC)
21.     INTRODUCTION TO PYTHON FOR BIOLOGISTS (December 2017 TBC)
22.     DATA VISUALISATION AND MANIPULATION USING PYTHON (December 2017 TBC)

Oliver Hooker PhD.
PR statistics
3/1
128 Brunswick Street
Glasgow
G1 1TF
+44 (0) 7966500340
www.prstatistics.com
www.prstatistics.com/organiser/oliver-hooker/

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