Improving the predictive capability of benthic species distribution models by incorporating oceanographic data – Towards holistic ecological modelling of a submarine canyon
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Submarine canyons are associated with increased biodiversity, including cold-water coral (CWC) colonies and reefs which are features of high conservation value that are under increasing anthropogenic pressure. Effective spatial management and conservation of these features requires accurate distribution maps and a deeper understanding of the processes that generate the observed distribution patterns. Predictive distribution modelling offers a powerful tool in the deep sea, where surveys are constrained by cost and technological capabilities. To date, predictive distribution modelling in canyons has focussed on integrating groundtruthed acoustically acquired datasets as proxies for environmental variables thought to influence faunal patterns. Physical oceanography is known to influence faunal patterns but has rarely been explicitly included in predictive distribution models of canyon fauna, thereby omitting key information required to adequately capture the species-environment relationships that form the basis of predictive distribution modelling. In this study, acoustic, oceanographic and biological datasets were integrated to undertake high-resolution predictions of benthic megafaunal diversity and CWC distribution within Whittard Canyon, North-East Atlantic. The main aim was to investigate which environmental variables best predict faunal patterns in canyons and to assess whether including oceanographic data improves predictive modelling. General additive models, random forests and boosted regression trees were used to build predictive maps for CWC occurrence, megafaunal abundance, species richness and biodiversity. To provide more robust predictions, ensemble techniques that summarise the variation in predictions and uncertainties between modelling approaches were applied to build final maps. Model performance improved with the inclusion of oceanographic data. Ensemble maps identified areas of elevated current speed that coincided with steep ridges and escarpment walls as the areas most likely to harbour CWCs and increased biodiversity, probably linked to local hydrodynamics interacting with topography to concentrate food resources. This study shows how incorporating oceanographic data into canyon models can broaden our understanding of processes generating faunal patterns and improve the mapping of features of conservation, supporting effective procedures for spatial ecosystem management.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".