Evaluating the spatial transferability of habitat suitability models: implications for conservation and management
Habitat models often rely on data with incomplete or patchy survey coverage, making it necessary to project observed habitat relationships into unsampled areas. Model transferability is often assumed, rarely tested, and may result in uninformed management recommendations if not validated. In the eas...
Published in: | Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences |
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Canadian Science Publishing
2024
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2023-0293 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjfas-2023-0293 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjfas-2023-0293 |
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/cjfas-2023-0293 2024-05-19T07:37:08+00:00 Evaluating the spatial transferability of habitat suitability models: implications for conservation and management Linner, Robyn M. Chen, Yong 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2023-0293 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjfas-2023-0293 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjfas-2023-0293 en eng Canadian Science Publishing https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en_GB Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ISSN 0706-652X 1205-7533 journal-article 2024 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2023-0293 2024-04-25T06:52:00Z Habitat models often rely on data with incomplete or patchy survey coverage, making it necessary to project observed habitat relationships into unsampled areas. Model transferability is often assumed, rarely tested, and may result in uninformed management recommendations if not validated. In the eastern Gulf of Maine, data from the federal trawl survey has historically been used to identify suitable habitat for juvenile Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua), despite mainly sampling in offshore waters. This study evaluated the spatial transferability of a habitat suitability index model by projecting offshore habitat relationships inshore and comparing them to models built using two inshore surveys. Due to rare warm-water exposure in offshore waters, the federal survey model was unable to identify suitable habitat in the warmer, shallower areas that the inshore surveys identified, suggesting that offshore models are not transferable inshore for juvenile cod in the eastern Gulf of Maine. The results of this study have implications for fisheries worldwide and suggest that incorrectly assuming model transferability could pose a significant hurdle for effective conservation and management. Article in Journal/Newspaper atlantic cod Gadus morhua Canadian Science Publishing Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences |
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Open Polar |
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Canadian Science Publishing |
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crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
description |
Habitat models often rely on data with incomplete or patchy survey coverage, making it necessary to project observed habitat relationships into unsampled areas. Model transferability is often assumed, rarely tested, and may result in uninformed management recommendations if not validated. In the eastern Gulf of Maine, data from the federal trawl survey has historically been used to identify suitable habitat for juvenile Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua), despite mainly sampling in offshore waters. This study evaluated the spatial transferability of a habitat suitability index model by projecting offshore habitat relationships inshore and comparing them to models built using two inshore surveys. Due to rare warm-water exposure in offshore waters, the federal survey model was unable to identify suitable habitat in the warmer, shallower areas that the inshore surveys identified, suggesting that offshore models are not transferable inshore for juvenile cod in the eastern Gulf of Maine. The results of this study have implications for fisheries worldwide and suggest that incorrectly assuming model transferability could pose a significant hurdle for effective conservation and management. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Linner, Robyn M. Chen, Yong |
spellingShingle |
Linner, Robyn M. Chen, Yong Evaluating the spatial transferability of habitat suitability models: implications for conservation and management |
author_facet |
Linner, Robyn M. Chen, Yong |
author_sort |
Linner, Robyn M. |
title |
Evaluating the spatial transferability of habitat suitability models: implications for conservation and management |
title_short |
Evaluating the spatial transferability of habitat suitability models: implications for conservation and management |
title_full |
Evaluating the spatial transferability of habitat suitability models: implications for conservation and management |
title_fullStr |
Evaluating the spatial transferability of habitat suitability models: implications for conservation and management |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evaluating the spatial transferability of habitat suitability models: implications for conservation and management |
title_sort |
evaluating the spatial transferability of habitat suitability models: implications for conservation and management |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2023-0293 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjfas-2023-0293 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjfas-2023-0293 |
genre |
atlantic cod Gadus morhua |
genre_facet |
atlantic cod Gadus morhua |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ISSN 0706-652X 1205-7533 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en_GB |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2023-0293 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences |
_version_ |
1799476372338376704 |