Species Distribution Modelling: Contrasting presence-only models with plot abundance data
Authors: Gomes Vitor H. F. , IJff Stéphanie D. , Raes Niels , Amaral Iêda Leão , Salomão Rafael P. , de Souza Coelho Luiz , de Almeida Matos Francisca Dionízia , Castilho Carolina V. , de Andrade Lima Filho Diogenes , López Dairon Cárdenas , Guevara Juan Ernesto , Magnusson William E. , Phillips Oliver L. , Wittmann Florian , de Jesus Veiga Carim Marcelo , Martins Maria Pires , Irume Mariana Victória , Sabatier Daniel , Molino Jean-François , Bánki Olaf S. , da Silva Guimarães José Renan , Pitman Nigel C. A. , Piedade Maria Teresa Fernandez , Mendoza Abel Monteagudo , Luize Bruno Garcia , Venticinque Eduardo Martins , de Leão Novo Evlyn Márcia Moraes , Vargas Percy Núñez , Silva Thiago Sanna Freire , Manzatto Angelo Gilberto , Terborgh John , Reis Neidiane Farias Costa , Montero Juan Carlos , Casula Katia Regina , Marimon Beatriz S. , Marimon Ben-Hur , Coronado Euridice N. Honorio , Feldpausch Ted R. , Duque Alvaro , Zartman Charles Eugene , Arboleda Nicolás Castaño , Killeen Timothy J. , Mostacedo Bonifacio , Vasquez Rodolfo , Schöngart Jochen , Assis Rafael L. , Medeiros Marcelo Brilhante , Simon Marcelo Fragomeni , Andrade Ana , Laurance William F. , Camargo José Luís , Demarchi Layon O. , Laurance Susan G. W. , de Sousa Farias Emanuelle , Nascimento Henrique Eduardo Mendonça , Revilla Juan David Cardenas , Quaresma Adriano , Costa Flavia R. C. , Vieira Ima Célia Guimarães , Cintra Bruno Barçante Ladvocat , Castellanos Hernán , Brienen Roel , Stevenson Pablo R. , Feitosa Yuri , Duivenvoorden Joost F. , Aymard C. Gerardo A. , Mogollón Hugo F. , Targhetta Natalia , Comiskey James A. , Vicentini Alberto , Lopes Aline , Damasco Gabriel , Dávila Nállarett , García-Villacorta Roosevelt , Levis Carolina , Schietti Juliana , Souza Priscila , Emilio Thaise , Alonso Alfonso , Neill David , Dallmeier Francisco , Ferreira Leandro Valle , Araujo-Murakami Alejandro , Praia Daniel , do Amaral Dário Dantas , Carvalho Fernanda Antunes , de Souza Fernanda Coelho , Feeley Kenneth , Arroyo Luzmila , Pansonato Marcelo Petratti , Gribel Rogerio , Villa Boris , Licona Juan Carlos , Fine Paul V. A. , Cerón Carlos , Baraloto Chris , Jimenez Eliana M. , Stropp Juliana , Engel Julien , Silveira Marcos , Mora Maria Cristina Peñuela , Petronelli Pascal , Maas Paul , Thomas-Caesar Raquel , Henkel Terry W. , Daly Doug , Paredes Marcos Ríos , Baker Tim R. , Fuentes Alfredo , Peres Carlos A. , Chave Jerome , Pena Jose Luis Marcelo , Dexter Kyle G. , Silman Miles R. , Jørgensen Peter Møller , Pennington Toby , Di Fiore Anthony , Valverde Fernando Cornejo , Phillips Juan Fernando , Rivas-Torres Gonzalo , von Hildebrand Patricio , van Andel Tinde R. , Ruschel Ademir R. , Prieto Adriana , Rudas Agustín , Hoffman Bruce , Vela César I. A. , Barbosa Edelcilio Marques , Zent Egleé L. , Gonzales George Pepe Gallardo , Doza Hilda Paulette Dávila , de Andrade Miranda Ires Paula , Guillaumet Jean-Louis , Pinto Linder Felipe Mozombite , de Matos Bonates Luiz Carlos , Silva Natalino , Gómez Ricardo Zárate , Zent Stanford , Gonzales Therany , Vos Vincent A. , Malhi Yadvinder , Oliveira Alexandre A. , Cano Angela , Albuquerque Bianca Weiss , Vriesendorp Corine , Correa Diego Felipe , Torre Emilio Vilanova , van der Heijden Geertje , Ramirez-Angulo Hirma , Ramos José Ferreira , Young Kenneth R. , Rocha Maira , Nascimento Marcelo Trindade , Medina Maria Natalia Umaña , Tirado Milton , Wang Ophelia , Sierra Rodrigo , Torres-Lezama Armando , Mendoza Casimiro , Ferreira Cid , Baider Cláudia , Villarroel Daniel , Balslev Henrik , Mesones Italo , Giraldo Ligia Estela Urrego , Casas Luisa Fernanda , Reategui Manuel Augusto Ahuite , Linares-Palomino Reynaldo , Zagt Roderick , Cárdenas Sasha , Farfan-Rios William , Sampaio Adeilza Felipe , Pauletto Daniela , Sandoval Elvis H. Valderrama , Arevalo Freddy Ramirez , Huamantupa-Chuquimaco Isau , Garcia-Cabrera Karina , Hernandez Lionel , Gamarra Luis Valenzuela , Alexiades Miguel N. , Pansini Susamar , Cuenca Walter Palacios , Milliken William , Ricardo Joana , Lopez-Gonzalez Gabriela , Pos Edwin , ter Steege Hans 
Published: January 2018

Species distribution models (SDMs) are widely used in ecology and conservation. Presence-only SDMs such as MaxEnt frequently use natural history collections (NHCs) as occurrence data, given their huge numbers and accessibility. NHCs are often spatially biased which may generate inaccuracies in SDMs. Here, we test how the distribution of NHCs and MaxEnt predictions relates to a spatial abundance model, based on a large plot dataset for Amazonian tree species, using inverse distance weighting (IDW). We also propose a new pipeline to deal with inconsistencies in NHCs and to limit the area of occupancy of the species. We found a significant but weak positive relationship between the distribution of NHCs and IDW for 66% of the species. The relationship between SDMs and IDW was also significant but weakly positive for 95% of the species, and sensitivity for both analyses was high. Furthermore, the pipeline removed half of the NHCs records. Presence-only SDM applications should consider this limitation, especially for large biodiversity assessments projects, when they are automatically generated without subsequent checking. Our pipeline provides a conservative estimate of a species’ area of occupancy, within an area slightly larger than its extent of occurrence, compatible to e.g. IUCN red list assessments.