Species Distribution Modelling

Regional workshop in Malaysia, 6-10 February 2012

Modelling species distributions - or habitat suitability - as a function of geographical and climatic variables is key to understanding the impact of land-use changes and climate change on wildlife populations. Habitat data sets and SDM software are becoming available, and conservationists and researchers in the region are beginning to use the techniques. A variety of approaches are in use, with their own constraints and advantages.

Dr Jane Elith of University of Melbourne (Australia) will lead the workshop. Jane has published extensively on SDM for a range of species, as well as an explanation of MaxEnt for ecologists.

An outline of the content to be covered is here.

Venue: University Guesthouse, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. This is the venue we used for the regional workshops in 2010 (Occupancy with Darryl MacKenzie) and 2011 (SECR with Murray Efford).

Registration fee: MYR 1950 (US$ 670).

Accommodation: Participants can benefit from reduced rates at the University Guesthouse, with Executive (single) rooms at MYR 120 per night and Delux (twin) rooms at MYR 108 per night without breakfast. More details... If you want to take advantage of this, please add a non-refundable deposit of MYR 150 (US$50) when paying the registration fee; the balance of the room charge can be paid on arrival.

 

We already have 26 participants registered, so the workshop is full, and we also have several people wait-listed, so if you're not on the list the chance of a place now is slim.

"Boot Camp" in Wildlife Statistics

Intended for those involved in wildlife research using techniques such as line transects, presence/absence surveys or mark-recapture - or those who need to understand the results of this research. The "Boot Camp" will start with the basic concepts and go on to practical data analysis with Excel, R, and the PRESENCE, DISTANCE, SECR and MARK packages. Click here for more details of content. 

Kuala Lumpur Boot Camp, January 2012

Dates: Mon-Fri 9-13 and 16-20 January 2012 (with a break for the weekend).

Venue: ATCEN Learning Centre at Taman Megah, Jalan SS24/2, Petaling Jaya. This is just off the Damansara-Puchong Highway and about 350m from the Taman Bahagia LRT station.

Registration fee: RM 300 per person for the 10-day course, including tea/coffee breaks and course materials.

If you are interested in attending this course, please email Mike Meredith, mmeredith at wcs dot org.

Writing papers for scientific journals

In response to requests for a scientific writing workshop, we plan to run a series of pilot sessions covering the following topics:

• Appropriate style: the art of writing clear, concise descriptions.
• What's the point? The research question you were trying to answer, or the message you want to convey to the reader.
• Types of papers - research reports, methods papers, reviews, opinion/policy papers, etc - and appropriate structures for each.
• Intended audience and choice of journal.
• Complying with "Instructions for Authors".
• Presenting quantitative results.
• Writing the abstract or summary.
• The submission process.
• Using R software to produce publishable graphics meeting journal requirements.

These will be held in Kuching in February/March 2012. (Originally planned for Oct/Nov 2011, but we haven't managed to get the details together in time: sorry!) If these work well, and there is sufficient demand, we will put together a workshop on the topic later in 2012.

Participants should have an outline of a paper they intend to write, which they can discuss and work on during the sessions.

If you are interested, please email Mike, mmeredith at wcs dot org.

Updated 17 December 2011 by Mike Meredith