Estimating scale‐dependent covariate responses using two‐dimensional diffusion derived from the stochastic partial differential equation method Methods in Ecology and Evolution

Species distribution models (SDMs) are widely used to standardize spatially unbalanced data, project climate impacts and identify habitat for conservation. SDMs typically estimate the impact of local environmental conditions by estimating a dome-shaped or non-parametric ‘environmental response function’. However, ecological responses often integrate across local habitat conditions, such that species density depends on habitat at the location of sampling but also at nearby locations.