Estimating actual and potential areas of distribution of species via ecological niche modeling has become a very active field of research, yet important conceptual issues in this field remain confused. We argue that conceptual clarity is enhanced by adopting restricted definitions of "niche" that enable operational definitions of basic concepts like fundamental, potential, and realized niches a...

1 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, 37996 Knoxville, Tennessee 2 BIOSS, King’s Buildings, EH93JZ Edinburgh, Scotland, UK (email: [email protected]) 3 Center for Theoretical Study, Charles University, Jilská 1, 110 00-CZ Praha 1, Czech Republic (e-mail: [email protected]) 4 Department of Ecology. Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, 128 44-CZ...

Sister species that diverged in allopatry in similar environments are expected to exhibit niche conservatism. Using ecological niche modeling and a multivariate analysis of climate and habitat data, I test the hypothesis that the Bicknell's Thrush (Catharus bicknelli) and Gray-cheeked Thrush (C. mimimus), sister species that breed in the North American boreal forest, show niche conservatism. Th...

In the present study we investigate the concept of phylogenetic niche conservatism (PNC) within the American species of angraecoid orchids (Campylocentrum and Dendrophylax) and their closest relatives in the Old World (Angraecum) using ecological niche modelling (ENM). The predicted niche occupancy profiles were matched with the outcomes of previous phylogenetic studies to reconstruct the evolu...

Eurotia ceratoides (L.) C. A. Mey is an important plant species in semi-arid landsin Iran. New approaches are required to determine the distribution of this plant species. Forthis reason, geographical distributions of Eurotia ceratoides were assessed using threedifferent models including: Multiple Discriminant Analysis (MDA), Ecological Niche FactorAnalysis (ENFA) and Logistic Regression (LR). ...

The main goal of this study was to predict, through the use of GIS tool as ecological niche modelling, potentially suitable ecological niche and defining the conditions of such niche for the representatives of the cosmopolitan genus Sirthenea. Among all known genera of the subfamily Peiratinae, only Sirthenea occurs on almost all continents and zoogeographical regions. Our research was based on...

We describe an algorithm that helps to predict potential distributional areas for species using presence-only records. The Marble Algorithm is a density-based clustering program based on Hutchinson's concept of ecological niches as multidimensional hypervolumes in environmental space. The algorithm characterizes this niche space using the density-based spatial clustering of applications with no...