Title: THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RARE EVENTS LOGISTIC REGRESSION TO PREDICT THE DISTRIBUTION OF MESOPHOTIC HARD CORALS ACROSS THE MAIN HAWAIIAN ISLANDS

Abstract: Predictive habitat suitability models are powerful tools for cost-effective, mathematically robust ecological assessment of the environmental drivers of species distributions. The aim of this study was to develop a predictive habitat suitability model for two genera (Leptoseris and Montipora) of mesophotic scleractinian corals across the main Hawaiian Islands. The mesophotic zone (30 - 180 m) is challenging to reach, and therefore historically understudied, because it falls between the maximum limit of SCUBA divers and the minimum typical working depth of submersible vehicles. Here, we implement a logistic regression with rare events corrections to account for the scarcity of presence observations within the dataset. These corrections reduced the coefficient error and improved overall prediction success (73.6% and 74.3%) for both original regression models. Predictions were translated to spatially independent habitat suitability maps of the main Hawaiian Islands at 25 x 25 m resolution. Our maps are the first of their kind to use extant presence and absence data to examine the habitat preferences of these two dominant mesophotic coral genera across Hawaiʻi.

Authors: Veazey LM, Franklin EC, Kelley C, Rooney J, Frazer LN, Toonen RJ

Presentation: Oral

Session: 29

Date: 06/22/16

Time: 11:00

Location: 308 A/B

Back