Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Fabrice StephensonORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Copyright © 2022 Goetz, Stephenson, Hoskins, Bindoff, Orben, Sagar, Torres, Kroeger, Sztukowski, Phillips, Votier, Bearhop, Taylor and Thompson.Few studies have assessed the influence of data quality on the predicted probability of occurrence and preferred habitat of marine predators. We compared results from four species distribution models (SDMs) for four southern-hemisphere albatross species, Buller’s (Thalassarche bulleri), Campbell (T. impavida), grey-headed (T. chrysostoma), and white-capped (T. steadi), based on datasets of differing quality, ranging from no location data to twice-daily locations of individual birds collected by geolocation devices. Two relative environmental suitability (RES) models were fit using minimum and maximum preferred and absolute values for each environmental variable based on (1) monthly 50% kernel density contours and background environmental data, and (2) primary literature or expert opinion. Additionally, two boosted regression tree (BRT) models were fit using (1) opportunistic sightings data, and (2) geolocation data from bird-borne electronic tags. Using model-specific threshold values, habitat was quantified for each species and model. Model variables included distance from land, bathymetry, sea surface temperature, and chlorophyll-a concentration. Results from both RES models and the BRT model fit with opportunistic sightings were compared to those from the BRT model fit using geolocation data to assess the influence of data quality on predicted occupancy and habitat. For all species, BRT models outperformed RES models. BRT models offer a predictive advantage over RES models by being able to identify relevant variables, incorporate environmental interactions, and provide spatially explicit estimates of model uncertainty. RES models resulted in larger, less refined areas of predicted habitat for all species. Our study highlights the importance of data quality in predicting the distribution and habitat of albatrosses and emphasises the need to consider the pros and cons associated with different levels of data quality when using SDMs to inform management decisions. Furthermore, we examine the overlap in preferred habitat predicted by each SDM with fishing effort. We discuss the influence of data quality on predicting the wide-scale distributions of pelagic seabirds and how these impacts could result in different protection measures.
Author(s): Goetz KT, Stephenson F, Hoskins A, Bindoff AD, Orben RA, Sagar PM, Torres LG, Kroeger CE, Sztukowski LA, Phillips RA, Votier SC, Bearhop S, Taylor GA, Thompson DR
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Frontiers in Marine Science
Year: 2022
Volume: 9
Online publication date: 18/05/2022
Acceptance date: 31/03/2022
Date deposited: 23/11/2023
ISSN (electronic): 2296-7745
Publisher: Frontiers Media S.A.
URL: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.782923
DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2022.782923
Data Access Statement: The datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. The names of the repository/repositories and accession number(s) can be found below: BirdLife’s Seabird Tracking Database (see http://www.seabirdtracking.org/)
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
