AquaMaps (beta version)

openModeller id: AQUAMAPS

Current version: 0.3    Developer(s): Renato De Giovanni

Accepts Categorical Maps: no

Requires absence points: no

Author(s): Kaschner, K., J. S. Ready, E. Agbayani, J. Rius, K. Kesner-Reyes, P. D. Eastwood, A. B. South, S. O. Kullander, T. Rees, C. H. Close, R. Watson, D. Pauly, and R. Froese

Description

AquaMaps is a niche modelling tool developed as part of the Incofish project and particularly tailored towards modelling marine organisms distribution. The basic idea follows the environmental envelope type modelling approach, where each variable has an associated preferred range and a broader accepted range. Within the preferred range the probabilty of presence is 1, between the preferred range and the acceptable range the probability varies from 1 to 0 (linear decay), and outside the accepted range the probability is 0. The overall probability is calculated by multiplying all individual probabilities. This algorithm differs from other traditional ones since it requires a specific set of layers to work, which should also be in this order: maximum depth in meters, minimum depth in meters, mean annual sea ice concentration, mean annual distance to land in kilometers, mean annual primary production (chlorophyll A, measured in mgC per square meter per day), mean annual bottom salinity in psu, mean annual surface salinity in psu, mean annual bottom temperature in celsius, mean annual surface temperature in celsius. These layers can be downloaded from: http://openmodeller.cria.org.br/download/marine2.zip Preferred ranges are usually calculated based on percentiles 10th and 90th. They are further adjusted using interquartile values but also ensuring a minimum envelope size based on pre-defined values. Under certain circumstances, AquaMaps can make use of expert information to define the envelopes. This can happen for mammals (any envelope) or for fishes (depth range envelope). Expert information comes from FishBase and is stored in a local SQLite database (aquamaps.db) accessed by the algorithm. To find information in the database, all occurrences provided to openModeller must be labeled with the scientific name (only genus and species). Matches are exact, using case-sensitive equals operation. In this version, the internal database contains information for more then 7000 marine species.

Bibliography

Kaschner, K., J. S. Ready, E. Agbayani, J. Rius, K. Kesner-Reyes, P. D. Eastwood, A. B. South, S. O. Kullander, T. Rees, C. H. Close, R. Watson, D. Pauly, and R. Froese. 2007 AquaMaps: Predicted range maps for aquatic species. World wide web electronic publication, www.aquamaps.org, Version 12/2007.

Parameters

Use surface layers (only for temperature and salinity)

openModeller id: UseSurfaceLayers

Use surface layers (1=yes, 0=no, -1=let the algorithm decide). By default (-1), aquamaps will try to find the species' depth range in its internal database. If the minimum depth is equals or less than 200m, then aquamaps will use sea surface layers for temperature and salinity. Otherwise it will use bottom layers. This parameter can be used to force aquamaps to use surface or bottom layers.

Data type: integer  Domain: [-1.0, 1.0]  Typical value: -1

Use depth range

openModeller id: UseDepthRange

Use depth range provided by experts (if available) when calculating probabilities

Data type: integer  Domain: [0.0, 1.0]  Typical value: 1

Use ice concentration

openModeller id: UseIceConcentration

Use ice concentration when calculating probabilities

Data type: integer  Domain: [0.0, 1.0]  Typical value: 1

Use distance to land

openModeller id: UseDistanceToLand

Use distance to land envelope when calculating probabilities

Data type: integer  Domain: [0.0, 1.0]  Typical value: 0

Use primary production

openModeller id: UsePrimaryProduction

Use primary production envelope when calculating probabilities

Data type: integer  Domain: [0.0, 1.0]  Typical value: 1

Use salinity

openModeller id: UseSalinity

Use salinity envelope when calculating probabilities

Data type: integer  Domain: [0.0, 1.0]  Typical value: 1

Use temperature

openModeller id: UseTemperature

Use temperature envelope when calculating probabilities

Data type: integer  Domain: [0.0, 1.0]  Typical value: 1