Introduction to Ecological Niche Modelling

Ecological niche models (ENM), and/or species distribution models (SDM), are a series of computer algorithms designed to predict the distribution of species in geographic space based on a mathematical representation of their distribution in the environmental space. These state-of-the-art tools are frequently used in different biological disciplines such as ecology, biogeography, evolutionary biology or conservation. This is the first of two courses aimed to provide (1) an overview of the theoretical aspects, applications and techniques of ENM, and (2) a series of practical cases exemplifying relevant scientific uses of ENM.