Geographic range estimates and environmental requirements for the harpy eagle derived from spatial models of current and past distribution

Understanding species-environment relationships is key to defining the spatial structure of species distributions and develop effective conservation plans. However, for many species this baseline information does not exist. With reliable presence data, spatial models that predict geographical ranges and identify environmental processes regulating distribution are a cost-effective and rapid method to achieve this. Yet these spatial models are lacking for many rare and threatened species, particularly in tropical regions. The harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) is a Neotropical forest raptor of conservation concern with a continental distribution across lowland tropical forests in Central and South America.Currently the harpy eagle faces threats from habitat loss and persecution and is categorised as Near-Threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Within a point process modelling (PPM) framework, we use presence-only occurrences with climatic and topographical p...