Environmental variables for cushion peatlands in the Andes of Latin America

[Fabian Reddig]

Hello everyone,

I would be really grateful about some advices. I am geographer and currently investigating the species distribution of Distichia muscoides and Oxychloe andina in the High Andean mountains. It is the first time I am using Maxent and therefore unexperienced. Cushion peatland and corresponding mentioned plant species 

Cushion peatlands, dominated by hygrophilic, cushion forming chamaeophytes are reported from the alpine and subalpine vegetation of the Southern Hemisphere and the tropical high mointains. They form below spring outlets, below groundwater seepages in the lower part of fluvio-glacial debris fens and in shallow valley bottoms, threaded with streams fed from springs along the valley margin, at altitudes ranging between 4000 and 4800 m a.s.l. 

My question is how I can find out, which environmental variables are important for the modelling of species distribution. I made jackknife to measure the variables importance for BioClim data. I know they are not highly resoluted but in my region abundance of climate station is very sparse. 

Main question: How I can find out which environmental layers are important for my investigation?

Thank you in advance

Fabian

[marta azores]

Hi Fabian,

There are different approaches to select these variables. I don't know if you read the papers of  Lecours, Merow and Williams.

 Them can help you to understand the process of environmental selection

-1)Williams et al. 2012.Which environmental variables should I use in my biodiversity model?.

International Journal of Geographical Information Science

Volume 26, 2012 - Issue 11: Second Special Issue on Spatial Ecology

-2)

Lecours V, Brown CJ, Devillers R, Lucieer VL, Edinger EN. Comparing Selections of Environmental Variables for Ecological Studies: A Focus on Terrain Attributes. Lötters S, ed. PLoS ONE. 2016;11(12):e0167128. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0167128.

-3)

Merow et al2013. 

A practical guide to MaxEnt for modeling species’ distributions:

what it does, and why inputs and settings matter

Ecography 36: 1058–1069, 2013

doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0587.2013.07872.x

© 2013 The Authors. Ecography © 2013 Nordic Society Oikos

Subject Editor: Niklaus E. Zimmermann. Accepted 27 March 2013

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[Fabian Reddig]

Hello Marta 

I am so thankful for your answer. I will read the arcticle. I think they will help me.