Predicting wildlife distribution patterns in New England USA with expert elicitation techniques

Understanding the impacts of landscape change on species distributions can help inform decision-making and conservation planning. Unfortunately, empirical data that span large spatial extents across multiple taxa are limited. In this study, we used expert elicitation techniques to develop species distribution models (SDMs) for harvested wildlife species (n = 10) in the New England region of the northeastern United States. We administered an online survey that elicited opinions from wildlife experts on the probability of species occurrence throughout the study region. We collected 3396 probability of occurrence estimates from 46 experts, and used linear mixed-effects methods and landcover variables at multiple spatial extents to develop SDMs. We applied models to rasters (30 × 30 m pixles) of the New England region to map each species’ distribution. Details of the project can be found in the following publication: Pearman-Gillman SB, Katz JE, Mickey R, Murdoch JD, and Donovan TM. 2020. Predicting wildlife distribution patterns in New England USA with expert elicitation techniques. Global Ecology and Conservation 21:e00853. doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2019.e00853