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Habitat suitability for marine fishes using presence-only modelling and multibeam sonar

journal contribution
posted on 2010-01-01, 00:00 authored by J Monk, Daniel IerodiaconouDaniel Ierodiaconou, Vincent VersaceVincent Versace, Alecia BellgroveAlecia Bellgrove, E Harvey, Alexander Rattray, Laurie Laurenson, Gerry QuinnGerry Quinn
Improved access to multibeam sonar and underwater video technology is enabling scientists to use spatially-explicit, predictive modelling to improve our understanding of marine ecosystems. With the growing number of modelling approaches available, knowledge of the relative performance of different models in the marine environment is required. Habitat suitability of 5 demersal fish taxa in Discovery Bay, south-east Australia, were modelled using 10 presence-only algorithms: BIOCLIM, DOMAIN, ENFA (distance geometric mean [GM], distance harmonic mean [HM], median [M], area-adjusted median [Ma], median + extremum [Me], area-adjusted median + extremum [Mae] and minimum distance [Min]), and MAXENT. Model performance was assessed using kappa and area under curve (AUC) of the receiver operator characteristic. The influence of spatial range (area of occupancy) and environmental niches (marginality and tolerance) on modelling performance were also tested. MAXENT generally performed best, followed by ENFA-GM and -HM, DOMAIN, BIOCLIM, ENFA-M, -Min, -Ma, -Mae and -Me algorithms. Fish with clearly definable niches (i.e. high marginality) were most accurately modelled. Generally, Euclidean distance to nearest reef, HSI-b (backscatter), rugosity and maximum curvature were the most important variables in determining suitable habitat for the 5 demersal fish taxa investigated. This comparative study encourages ongoing use of presence-only approaches, particularly MAXENT, in modelling suitable habitat for demersal marine fishes.

History

Journal

Marine Ecology Progress Series

Volume

420

Pagination

157 - 174

Publisher

Inter-Research

Location

Oldendorf, Germany

ISSN

0171-8630

eISSN

1616-1599

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal; C Journal article

Copyright notice

2010, Inter-Research