Table 1.
Worldclim bioclimatic variables.
Fig 1.
Cassin’s Sparrow distribution maps.
Cassin’s Sparrow range map (A) compared to the species’ predicted habitat suitability distributions obtained from the MaxEnt baseline (B), Monte Carlo Ensemble #1 (C), and Monte Carlo Ensemble #2 (D). Image (A) provided by eBird (www.ebird.org), created 28 July 2020, and reprinted from [71] under a CC BY license, with permission from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Images (B)–(D) created by the authors show MaxEnt logistic output, which can be interpreted as an estimated probability of presence between 0 and 1 with warmer colors indicating better predicted conditions [72].
Table 2.
Results of MaxEnt baseline and Monte Carlo selection trials.
Fig 2.
Monte Carlo Ensemble #1 results.
Two random variables at a time were chosen for each MaxEnt sprint run. The sprint log on top shows the progressive selection of a stable set of top six variables in yellow. The graph on the bottom shows the narrow range of fluctuating AICc values over the course of the ensemble runs. Maximum and minimum AICc values are shown in red.
Fig 3.
Monte Carlo Ensemble #2 results.
Six random variables at a time were chosen for each MaxEnt sprint run. The sprint log on top shows the progressive selection of a stable set of top six variables in yellow. The graph on the bottom shows the narrow range of fluctuating AICc values over the course of the ensemble runs. Maximum and minimum AICc values are shown in red.
Table 3.
Model similarity metrics.
Fig 4.
Ecological niche modeling process.
Schematic description of the ecological niche modeling process. Color bars under each step reflect an approximate range of times that may be needed, ranging from low (blue) to high (red). Use of a Monte Carlo method to prescreen a large collection of predictors could support variable selection in the data cleaning step. Image provided by [22] and adapted for use here under a CC-BY license.