SimpleSDMLayers.jl and GBIF.jl: A Framework for Species Distribution Modeling in Julia
Gabriel Dansereau, Timothée Poisot
Abstract
Predicting where species should be found in space is a common question in ecology and biogeography.Species distribution models (SDMs), for instance, aim to predict where environmental conditions are suitable for a given species, often on continuous geographic scales.Such analyses require the use of geo-referenced data on species distributions coupled with climate or land cover information, hence a tight integration between environmental data, species occurrence data, and spatial coordinates.Thus, it requires an efficient way to access these different data types within the same software, as well as a flexible framework on which to build various analysis workflows.Here we present SimpleSDMLayers.jland GBIF.jl, two packages in the Julia language implementing a simple framework and type-system on which to build SDM analyses, as well as providing access to popular data sources for species occurrences and environmental conditions.