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

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.
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.
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.
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.
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

1.      ADVANCING IN STATISTICAL MODELLING FOR EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGISTS AND 
ECOLOGISTS USING R #ADVR
17th – 21st April 2017, Scotland, Dr. Luc Bussiere, Dr. Ane Timenes Laugen
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/advancing-statistical-modelling-using-r-
advr06/

2.      CODING, DATA MANAGEMENT AND SHINY APPLICATIONS USING RSTUDIO FOR 
EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGISTS AND ECOLOGISTS #CDSR
15th - 19th May, Scotland Dr. Aline Quadros
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/coding-data-management-and-shiny-
applications-using-rstudio-for-evolutionary-biologists-and-ecologists-
cdsr01/

3.      GEOMETRIC MORPHOMETRICS USING R #GMMR
5th – 9th June 2017, Scotland, Prof. Dean Adams, Prof. Michael Collyer, Dr. 
Antigoni Kaliontzopoulou
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/geometric-morphometrics-using-r-gmmr01/

4.      MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF SPATIAL ECOLOGICAL DATA #MASE
19th – 23rd June, Canada, Prof. Subhash Lele, Dr. Peter Solymos
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/multivariate-analysis-of-spatial-
ecological-data-using-r-mase01/

5.      TIME SERIES MODELS FOR ECOLOGISTS USING R (JUNE 2017 #TSME
26th – 30th June, Canada, Dr. Andrew Parnell
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/time-series-models-foe-ecologists-tsme01/

6.      BIOINFORMATICS FOR GENETICISTS AND BIOLOGISTS #BIGB
3rd – 7th July 2017, Scotland, Dr. Nic Blouin, Dr. Ian Misner
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/bioinformatics-for-geneticists-and-
biologists-bigb02/

7.      META-ANALYSIS IN ECOLOGY, EVOLUTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 
#METR01
24th – 28th July, Scotland, Prof. Julia Koricheva, Prof. Elena Kulinskaya
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/meta-analysis-in-ecology-evolution-and-
environmental-sciences-metr01/

8.      SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF ECOLOGICAL DATA USING R #SPAE
7th – 12th August 2017, Scotland, Prof. Jason Matthiopoulos, Dr. James 
Grecian
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/spatial-analysis-ecological-data-using-r-
spae05/

9.      ECOLOGICAL NICHE MODELLING USING R #ENMR
16th – 20th October 2017, Scotland, Dr. Neftali Sillero
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/ecological-niche-modelling-using-r-
enmr01/

10.     INTRODUCTION TO BIOINFORMATICS USING LINUX #IBUL
16th – 20th October, Scotland, Dr. Martin Jones
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/introduction-to-bioinformatics-using-
linux-ibul02/

11.     GENETIC DATA ANALYSIS AND EXPLORATION USING R #GDAR
23rd – 27th October, Wales, Dr. Thibaut Jombart, Zhian Kavar
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/genetic-data-analysis-exploration-using-
r-gdar03/

12.     STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELLING FOR ECOLOGISTS AND EVOLUTIONARY 
BIOLOGISTS USING R #SEMR
23rd – 27th October, Wales, Prof Jarrett Byrnes, Dr. Jon Lefcheck
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/structural-equation-modelling-for-
ecologists-and-evolutionary-biologists-semr01/

13.     LANDSCAPE (POPULATION) GENETIC DATA ANALYSIS USING R #LNDG
6th – 10th November, Wales, Prof. Rodney Dyer
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/landscape-genetic-data-analysis-using-r-
lndg02/

14.     APPLIED BAYESIAN MODELLING FOR ECOLOGISTS AND EPIDEMIOLOGISTS #ABME
20th - 25th November 2017, Scotland, Prof. Jason Matthiopoulos, Dr. Matt 
Denwood
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/applied-bayesian-modelling-ecologists-
epidemiologists-abme03/

15.     INTRODUCTION REMOTE SENSING AND GIS APPLICATIONS FOR ECOLOGISTS 
#IRMS
27th Nov – 1st Dec, Wales, Dr Duccio Rocchini, Dr. Luca Delucchi
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/introduction-to-remote-sensing-and-gis-
for-ecological-applications-irms01/

16.     INTRODUCTION TO PYTHON FOR BIOLOGISTS #IPYB
27th Nov – 1st Dec, Wales, Dr. Martin Jones 
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/introduction-to-python-for-biologists-
ipyb04/

17.     DATA VISUALISATION AND MANIPULATION USING PYTHON #DVMP
11th – 15th December 2017, Wales, Dr. Martin Jones
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/data-visualisation-and-manipulation-
using-python-dvmp01/

18.     ADVANCING IN STATISTICAL MODELLING USING R #ADVR
11th – 15th December 2017, Wales, Dr. Luc Bussiere, Dr. Tom Houslay, Dr. 
Ane Timenes Laugen,
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/advancing-statistical-modelling-using-r-
advr07/

19.     INTRODUCTION TO BAYESIAN HIERARCHICAL MODELLING #IBHM
29th Jan – 2nd Feb 2018, Scotland, Dr. Andrew Parnell
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/introduction-to-bayesian-hierarchical-
modelling-using-r-ibhm02/

20.     ANIMAL MOVEMENT ECOLOGY (February 2018) #ANME
??th - ??th February 2018, Wales, Dr Luca Borger, Dr. John Fieberg

21.     AQUATIC TELEMENTRY DATA ANALYSIS USIR R (TBC) #ATDAR
??th - ??th February 2018, Wales,

22.     FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY FROM ORGANISM TO ECOSYSTEM: THEORY AND 
COMPUTATION #FEER
5th – 9th March 2018, Scotland, Dr. Francesco de Bello, Dr. Lars 
Götzenberger, Dr. Carlos Carmona
http://www.prstatistics.com/course/functional-ecology-from-organism-to-
ecosystem-theory-and-computation-feer01/

23.     ADVANCES IN MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF SPATIAL ECOLOGICAL DATA USING 
R #MVSP
Prof. Pierre Legendre, Dr. Olivier Gauthier - Date and location to be 
confirmed

24.     STABLE ISOTOPE MIXING MODELS USING SIAR, SIBER AND MIXSIAR #SIMM
Dr. Andrew Parnell, Dr. Andrew Jackson – Date and location to be confirmed

25.     NETWORK ANAYLSIS FOR ECOLOGISTS USING R #NTWA
Dr. Marco Scotti - Date and location to be confirmed

26.     MODEL BASE MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF ABUNDANCE DATA USING R #MBMV0
Prof David Warton - Date and location to be confirmed

27.     ADVANCED PYTHON FOR BIOLOGISTS #APYB
Dr. Martin Jones - Date and location to be confirmed

28.     PHYLOGENETIC DATA ANALYSIS USING R (TBC) #PHYL
Dr. Emmanuel Paradis – Date and location to be confirmed

Oliver Hooker PhD.
PR statistics

2017 publications - 

Ecosystem size predicts eco-morphological variability in post-glacial 
diversification. Ecology and Evolution. In press.

The physiological costs of prey switching reinforce foraging 
specialization. Journal of animal ecology.

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