Ground Validation Reveals Limited Applicability of Species Distribution Models for Dakota Skipper (Hesperia dacotae, Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) Recovery Efforts in Canada.

Species distribution models (SDMs) use spatial relationships between species occurrence and habitat (predictor) variables to generate maps of habitat suitability across a region of interest. These maps are frequently used in recovery planning efforts for endangered species, but they are influenced by data availability, selection of predictor variables, and choice of model type. Ground validation is necessary to robustly evaluate map accuracy, but it is rarely done, making it difficult to determine which modeling approach is best-suited for a given species or region.

Unexpected greening in a boreal permafrost peatland undergoing forest loss is partially attributable to tree species turnover.

Time series of vegetation indices derived from satellite imagery are useful in measuring vegetation response to climate warming in remote northern regions. These indices show that productivity is generally declining in the boreal forest, but it is unclear which components of boreal vegetation are driving these trends. We aimed to compare trends in the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) to forest growth and demographic data taken from a 10 ha mapped plot located in a spruce-dominated boreal peatland.