Integrated species distribution modelling system : a user friendly front end to the GARP modelling toolkit

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:At a social, ecological and biological level it is important tha t we gain a better understandingof species distribution and the constraints to species distribution. Various modelling tools andapproaches are available to provide this type of functionality. The GARP (Genetic Algorithmfor Rule set Production) Modelling System (GMS) was selected because of its strong predictivemodelling abilities and its ability to represent the results of model iterations in both a tabularand cartographic manner. A shortcoming in this system was identified in tha t it requires stronginformation technology skills in order to carry out the modelling process. This can be attributedto the lack of a user-friendly interface to the system. In order to address this a loosely coupledsystem was developed that provides an easy to use web-based front end to the GMS. ThisIntegrated Modelling System extends the core functionality of the GMS by providing a systemthat provides detailed history for each analysis, allows fine tuning of the modelling process,integrates directly with a biodiversity database containing specimen observations, and providesa simple 'wizard' interface to the modelling process.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University