GBIF Africa Nodes data mobilization, ecological niche modelling and data paper training and mentorship

The GBIF Africa nodes have identified skills in ecological niche modelling as an important capacity need in their regional work plan. This project is centred on providing practical training on ecological niche modelling and the preparation of data papers to participants from up to 10 nodes in Africa using real datasets for threatened or invasive species to be published to the GBIF network. The collaboration draws on the extensive experience of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, a GBIF Participant, in developing ecological niche models for a wide variety of fauna (e.g. wattled, grey-crowned and blue cranes; shoebills; blue swallows; and Amathole toads), some of which have been used to guide national species action plans or field surveys, or have been published in the scientific literature. After the training workshop, EWT will provide ongoing mentorship to refine and improve the ecological niche models developed and prepare them for publication, as well as to support the preparation and publication of datasets and data papers. The training materials will be made available to the community via EWT’s e-learning platform.