Please join us for the second talk of our BGC 2023 Spring Seminar Series with Dr. John Fieberg. Dr. Fieberg and Dr. Johannes Singer will also be holding a two-hour interactive workshop on the application of step selection functions as part of our BGC Seminar Series the following day, March 10, from 10:00-11:00am.

The ABCs of Species Distributions and Habitat-Selection Models

Abstract

Solutions to the most pressing problems in fisheries, wildlife, and conservation biology require an in-depth understanding of species-habitat associations. Advances in remote sensing, biologging technologies, and new approaches to data collection (e.g., using camera traps and citizen science) have expanded the range of species we can monitor and the types of environmental information we can gather; these advances have also resulted in datasets collected at finer temporal scales and over larger spatial extents. In this talk, I will review statistical methods (species distribution, habitat selection, and animal movement models) commonly used to model species-habitat associations, describe frameworks for interpreting their parameters, and hint at ways that we might increase model transferability.