Context

Species distribution modelling is a common tool in conservation biology but two main criticisms remain: (1) the use of simplistic variables that do not account for species movements and/or connectivity and (2) poor consideration of multi-scale processes driving species distributions.

Objectives

We aimed to determine if including multi-scale and fine-scale movement processes in SDM predictors would improve accuracy of SDM for low-mobility amphibian species compared with species-level analysis.

Methods

We tested and compared different SDMs for nine amphibian species with four different sets of predictors: (1) simple distance-based predictors; (2) single-scale compositional predictors; (3) multi-scale compositional predictors with a priori selection of scale based on knowledge of species mobility and scale-of-effect; and (4) multi-scale compositional predictors calculated using a friction-based functional grain to account for resource accessibility with landscape resistance to movement.

Results

Using friction-based functional grain predictors produced slight to moderate improvements of SDM performance at large scale. The multi-scale approach, with a priori scale selection, led to ambiguous results depending on the species studied, in particular for generalist species.

Conclusion

We underline the potential of using a friction-based functional grain to improve SDM predictions for species-level analysis.

中文翻译：

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整合景观阻力和多尺度栖息地选择预测因子，用于大规模两栖动物分布建模

上下文

物种分布建模是保护生物学中的常用工具，但仍有两个主要批评：(1) 使用不考虑物种运动和/或连通性的简单变量，以及 (2) 对驱动物种分布的多尺度过程的考虑不足。

目标

我们旨在确定与物种水平分析相比，在 SDM 预测器中包含多尺度和精细尺度运动过程是否会提高 SDM 对低迁移率两栖动物物种的准确性。

方法

我们用四组不同的预测因子测试和比较了九种两栖动物的不同 SDM：（1）简单的基于距离的预测因子；(2) 单尺度成分预测因子；(3) 基于物种流动性和效应尺度的知识，具有先验尺度选择的多尺度成分预测因子；(4) 使用基于摩擦的功能颗粒计算的多尺度成分预测因子，以解释资源可及性以及景观对运动的阻力。

结果

使用基于摩擦的功能颗粒预测器在大规模上产生了轻微到中等的 SDM 性能改进。具有先验尺度选择的多尺度方法根据所研究的物种导致模棱两可的结果，特别是对于通才物种。

结论

我们强调了使用基于摩擦的功能颗粒来改进物种级分析的 SDM 预测的潜力。