Modeling the Distribution of a Widely Distributed butVulnerable Marsupial: Where and How to Fit Useful Models?

Abstract

The greater glider (Petauroides volans) is the largest of the Australian gliding marsupials. Once abundant, it is now nationally listed as vulnerable because evidence of population decline exists across its distributional range. This decline and its likely relation with wildfire and logging, has prompted focus on conservation of this species. Species Distribution Models (SDMs) relate species occurrences to environmental variables at observation sites to predict distributions or make inferences about their key drivers. Conservation planning and land management use SDMs to deliver predictions of species distributions across landscapes. When modelling a broadly distributed species like the grea..