Species Distributions Modelling course (5th edition)

Science Retreats and InBIO-CIBIO at the University of Évora are jointly organising the 5th edition of the course “Species distributions models: concepts, methods, applications, and challenges”, which introduces the fundamental concepts underpinning ecological niche models (ENM), describing some of the most prominent methods currently in use, and discussing the strengths and limitations of these models for different applications. The course gives equal weight to theory and application. The students will have the opportunity to learn how to run ENM with the new SDM R platform (Naimi & Araújo 2016 Ecography) and they will be asked to bring their own data (if such data are not available we can provide our own data). During one day the students will analyse their data and prepare a small report for discussion in the class. The proposed course is the fifth after a first edition conducted at the Imperial College London (2014) and the following editions at University of Évora (2015, 2016, 2017). It also builds on slightly shorter courses developed by Miguel Araújo at the University of Copenhagen and the Estación Biologica de Doñana (CSIC).