Let’s say you’ve been travelling across Peninsular Malaysia looking for a particular animal or plant over the years and you’ve marked the GPS coordinates of its presence through an indirect sign (e.g., tracks or vocalizations) or an actual sighting. And one day, you decide to make a map of its distribution, but of course, you do not have the time and effort to look in every nook and cranny of the peninsula to make an accurate map. So wouldn’t you like to know potential places where your species might be found? 
Over the years, scientists have developed a range of species distribution models (SDMs) to help you do just that. SDMs try to establish a relationship between your species records and the environmental or spatial characteristics (e.g., rainfall, temperature, forest cover, land use types, distance to water sources) of your sampling area (Franklin 2009). In other words, SDMs help to predict where you might find other suitable habitats for your species – you don’t always have to depend on luck to go find them! One of the more popular types of SDMs is Maximum Entropy Modelling Continue reading
Tag: Reuben Clements
Publication update 3: The SAFE Index – what it is and what it isn’t
A conservationist’s work is all about saving endangered species. We all know that. Most of us in the business are also familiar with the IUCN Red List, which categorises species according to how threatened they are.
But have you ever wondered just how close a species really is to extinction? What does it mean exactly, when a species is endangered? And are all endangered species equally endangered? What if you had a limited amount of resources – a bit of funding here, a few members of staff there, and a whole bunch of species that need saving.
Or perhaps it all comes down to a choice between two different species. They’re both endangered. But you can’t save them both, because the resources you have simply aren’t enough. You have to choose. How do you choose? Wouldn’t you want some method to help you decide which species you should invest your resources and effort in?
This is what the SAFE Index is all about.
Publication update 1: Is sustainable use of Malaysia’s cloud forests possible?
Here’s a recent article co-authored by one of Rimba’s members, Reuben, in the journal BioScience. Cloud forests are home to numerous endemic species in Malaysia, but it remains a severely understudied ecosystem. This review summarizes the issues and challenges related to cloud forest conservation in Malaysia. Find out more about what needs to be done to save this imperiled ecosystem by getting a copy of this paper here.
Rimba 