{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,2]],"date-time":"2026-05-02T09:44:20Z","timestamp":1777715060048,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":62,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2015,11,16]],"date-time":"2015-11-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1447632000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e Tecnologia","award":["SFRH\/BD\/77031\/2011"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SFRH\/BD\/77031\/2011"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJGI"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Spatial records of species are commonly misidentified, which can change the predicted distribution of a species obtained from a species distribution model (SDM). Experiments were undertaken to predict the distribution of real and simulated species using MaxEnt and presence-only data \u201ccontaminated\u201d with varying rates of misidentification error. Additionally, the difference between the niche of the target and contaminating species was varied. The results show that species misidentification errors may act to contract or expand the predicted distribution of a species while shifting the predicted distribution towards that of the contaminating species. Furthermore the magnitude of the effects was positively related to the ecological distance between the species\u2019 niches and the size of the error rates. Critically, the magnitude of the effects was substantial even when using small error rates, smaller than common average rates reported in the literature, which may go unnoticed while using a standard evaluation method, such as the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. Finally, the effects outlined were shown to impact negatively on practical applications that use SDMs to identify priority areas, commonly selected for various purposes such as management. The results highlight that species misidentification should not be neglected in species distribution modeling.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijgi4042496","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2015,11,16]],"date-time":"2015-11-16T06:33:29Z","timestamp":1447655609000},"page":"2496-2518","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":51,"title":["Impacts of Species Misidentification on Species Distribution Modeling with Presence-Only Data"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"4","author":[{"given":"Hugo","family":"Costa","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK"},{"name":"InBIO\u2014Associate Laboratoy, Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Biology, University of the Azores, 9501-801 Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6464-3054","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Giles","family":"Foody","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK"}]},{"given":"S\u00edlvia","family":"Jim\u00e9nez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"InBIO\u2014Associate Laboratoy, Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Biology, University of the Azores, 9501-801 Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Lu\u00eds","family":"Silva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"InBIO\u2014Associate Laboratoy, Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Biology, University of the Azores, 9501-801 Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2015,11,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"993","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1461-0248.2005.00792.x","article-title":"Predicting species distribution: Offering more than simple habitat models","volume":"8","author":"Guisan","year":"2005","journal-title":"Ecol. Lett."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"677","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.ecolsys.110308.120159","article-title":"Species distribution models: Ecological explanation and prediction across apace and time","volume":"40","author":"Elith","year":"2009","journal-title":"Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evolut. Syst."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"147","DOI":"10.1016\/S0304-3800(00)00354-9","article-title":"Predictive habitat distribution models in ecology","volume":"135","author":"Guisan","year":"2000","journal-title":"Ecol. Model."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"413","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2664.2006.01136.x","article-title":"Error and uncertainty in habitat models","volume":"43","author":"Barry","year":"2006","journal-title":"J. Appl. Ecol."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"36","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecolmodel.2014.09.014","article-title":"Predicting species\u2019 abundances from occurrence data: Effects of sample size and bias","volume":"294","author":"Guevara","year":"2014","journal-title":"Ecol. Model."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2083","DOI":"10.1080\/13658816.2012.721553","article-title":"Influence of positional accuracy, sample size and scale on modelling species distributions: A review","volume":"26","year":"2012","journal-title":"Int. J. Geogr. Inf. Sci."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Syfert, M.M., Smith, M.J., and Coomes, D.A. (2013). The effects of sampling bias and model complexity on the predictive performance of maxent species distribution models. PLoS ONE, 8.","DOI":"10.1371\/annotation\/35be5dff-7709-4029-8cfa-f1357e5001f5"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"853","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1523-1739.2007.00686.x","article-title":"Limitations of biodiversity databases: Case study on seed-plant diversity in tenerife, canary islands","volume":"21","author":"Hortal","year":"2007","journal-title":"Conserv. Biol."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"332","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1472-4642.2007.00342.x","article-title":"Sensitivity of predictive species distribution models to change in grain size","volume":"13","author":"Guisan","year":"2007","journal-title":"Divers. Distrib."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"497","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tree.2004.07.006","article-title":"New developments in museum-based informatics and applications in biodiversity analysis","volume":"19","author":"Graham","year":"2004","journal-title":"Trend. Ecol. Evol."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"231","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecolmodel.2005.03.026","article-title":"Maximum entropy modeling of species geographic distributions","volume":"190","author":"Phillips","year":"2006","journal-title":"Ecol. Model."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"29","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecolmodel.2011.12.001","article-title":"Sample sizes and model comparison metrics for species distribution models","volume":"227","author":"Hanberry","year":"2012","journal-title":"Ecol. Model."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"207","DOI":"10.1111\/2041-210X.12144","article-title":"Correction of location errors for presence-only species distribution models","volume":"5","author":"Hefley","year":"2014","journal-title":"Method. Ecol. Evolut."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1366","DOI":"10.1111\/ddi.12096","article-title":"The importance of correcting for sampling bias in maxent species distribution models","volume":"19","author":"Niedballa","year":"2013","journal-title":"Divers. Distrib."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"73","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecolmodel.2013.12.012","article-title":"Spatial filtering to reduce sampling bias can improve the performance of ecological niche models","volume":"275","author":"Boria","year":"2014","journal-title":"Ecol. Model."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1084","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1600-0587.2013.00441.x","article-title":"Environmental filters reduce the effects of sampling bias and improve predictions of ecological niche models","volume":"37","author":"Varela","year":"2014","journal-title":"Ecography"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"609","DOI":"10.1111\/j.2007.0906-7590.05171.x","article-title":"Methods to account for spatial autocorrelation in the analysis of species distributional data: A review","volume":"30","author":"Dormann","year":"2007","journal-title":"Ecography"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2365","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecolmodel.2009.06.004","article-title":"The effect of species response form on species distribution model prediction and inference","volume":"220","author":"Santika","year":"2009","journal-title":"Ecol. Model."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"42","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2699.2011.02589.x","article-title":"Accounting for multi-scale spatial autocorrelation improves performance of invasive species distribution modelling (iSDM)","volume":"39","author":"Kupfer","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. Biogeogr."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"637","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1600-0587.2013.00564.x","article-title":"Evaluating, partitioning, and mapping the spatial autocorrelation component in ecological niche modeling: A new approach based on environmentally equidistant records","volume":"37","author":"Rangel","year":"2014","journal-title":"Ecography"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"288","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1366-9516.2006.00241.x","article-title":"Accuracy of resource selection functions across spatial scales","volume":"12","author":"Meyer","year":"2006","journal-title":"Divers. Distrib."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2577","DOI":"10.1007\/s10530-014-0688-z","article-title":"A novel downscaling approach to predict plant invasions and improve local conservation actions","volume":"16","author":"Fernandes","year":"2014","journal-title":"Biol. Invasion."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1349","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2664.2008.01517.x","article-title":"A novel field evaluation of the effectiveness of distance and independent observer sampling to estimate aural avian detection probabilities","volume":"45","author":"Alldredge","year":"2008","journal-title":"J. Appl. Ecol."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1269","DOI":"10.1111\/2041-210X.12100","article-title":"Advances and applications of occupancy models","volume":"5","author":"Bailey","year":"2013","journal-title":"Method. Ecol. Evolut."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"299","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1654-1103.2006.tb02449.x","article-title":"Effects of sampling time, species richness and observer on the exhaustiveness of plant censuses","volume":"17","author":"Archaux","year":"2006","journal-title":"J. Veg. Sci."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"109","DOI":"10.1016\/j.fishres.2012.04.007","article-title":"Accuracy of species identification by fisheries observers in a north Australian shark fishery","volume":"127\u2013128","author":"Tillett","year":"2012","journal-title":"Fish. Res."},{"key":"ref_27","first-page":"1326","article-title":"Estimation of species identification error: Implications for raptor migration counts and trend estimation","volume":"74","author":"Hull","year":"2010","journal-title":"The J. Wildl. Manag."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"446","DOI":"10.1899\/10-073.1","article-title":"Misidentification of freshwater mussel species (Bivalvia: Unionidae): Contributing factors, management implications, and potential solutions","volume":"30","author":"Shea","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. North. Am. Benthol. Soc."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"478","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1523-1739.2004.00233.x","article-title":"Significance of specimen databases from taxonomic revisions for estimating and mapping the global species diversity of invertebrates and repatriating reliable specimen data","volume":"18","author":"Meier","year":"2004","journal-title":"Conserv. Biol."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101","DOI":"10.1023\/A:1021441331839","article-title":"Assessing species misidentification rates through quality assurance of vegetation monitoring","volume":"165","author":"Scott","year":"2003","journal-title":"Plant Ecol."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"137","DOI":"10.1139\/cjb-2012-0205","article-title":"Taxonomic identification errors generate misleading ecological niche model predictions of an invasive hawkweed","volume":"91","author":"Ensing","year":"2012","journal-title":"Botany"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"266","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1469-1795.2011.00511.x","article-title":"Monitoring in the presence of species misidentification: The case of the Eurasian lynx in the Alps","volume":"15","author":"Marboutin","year":"2012","journal-title":"Anim. Conserv."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"81","DOI":"10.3354\/esr00234","article-title":"Effects of species misidentification on population assessment of overfished white marlin tetrapturus albidus and roundscale spearfish T. georgii","volume":"9","author":"Beerkircher","year":"2009","journal-title":"Endanger. Species Res."},{"key":"ref_34","unstructured":"Silva, L., Ojeda-Land, E., and Rodr\u00edguez-Luengo, J.L. (2008). ARENA."},{"key":"ref_35","unstructured":"Gillespie, R.G., and Clague, D.A. (2009). Encyclopedia of Islands, University of California Press."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mehltreter, K., Walker, L.R., and Sharpe, J.M. (2010). Fern Ecology, Cambridge University Press.","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511844898"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"393","DOI":"10.1016\/S0378-3774(99)00012-8","article-title":"Modelling the local climate in island environments: Water balance applications","volume":"40","author":"Azevedo","year":"1999","journal-title":"Agric. Water Manag."},{"key":"ref_38","unstructured":"Projectos Climaat e Climarcost. Available online: www.climaat.angra.uac.pt."},{"key":"ref_39","unstructured":"Theodoridis, S., and Koutroumbas, K. (2009). Pattern Recognition, Academic Press. [4th ed.]."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"38","DOI":"10.1017\/S0376892997000088","article-title":"A review of methods for the assessment of prediction errors in conservation presence\/absence models","volume":"24","author":"Fielding","year":"1997","journal-title":"Environ. Conserv."},{"key":"ref_41","unstructured":"Maxent Software for Species Habitat Modeling. Available online: http:\/\/www.cs.princeton.edu\/~schapire\/maxent."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"43","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1472-4642.2010.00725.x","article-title":"A statistical explanation of maxent for ecologists","volume":"17","author":"Elith","year":"2011","journal-title":"Divers. Distrib."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"161","DOI":"10.1111\/j.0906-7590.2008.5203.x","article-title":"Modeling of species distributions with Maxent: New extensions and a comprehensive evaluation","volume":"31","author":"Phillips","year":"2008","journal-title":"Ecography"},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"545","DOI":"10.1111\/j.2041-210X.2011.00182.x","article-title":"Likelihood analysis of species occurrence probability from presence-only data for modelling species distributions","volume":"3","author":"Royle","year":"2012","journal-title":"Method. Ecol. Evolut."},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1409","DOI":"10.1890\/12-1520.1","article-title":"On estimating probability of presence from use-availability or presence-background data","volume":"94","author":"Phillips","year":"2013","journal-title":"Ecology"},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"236","DOI":"10.1111\/2041-210x.12004","article-title":"Presence-only modelling using Maxent: When can we trust the inferences?","volume":"4","author":"Yackulic","year":"2013","journal-title":"Method. Ecol. Evolut."},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1058","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1600-0587.2013.07872.x","article-title":"A practical guide to Maxent for modeling species\u2019 distributions: What it does, and why inputs and settings matter","volume":"36","author":"Merow","year":"2013","journal-title":"Ecography"},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"497","DOI":"10.1007\/s10530-008-9266-6","article-title":"Predicting the potential distribution of invasive ring-necked parakeets Psittacula krameri in Northern Belgium using an ecological niche modelling approach","volume":"11","author":"Strubbe","year":"2009","journal-title":"Biol. Invasion."},{"key":"ref_49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"90","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foreco.2012.05.022","article-title":"Predicting successful replacement of forest invaders by native species using species distribution models: The case of Pittosporum undulatum and Morella faya in the Azores","volume":"279","author":"Costa","year":"2012","journal-title":"For. Ecol. Manag."},{"key":"ref_50","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.18637\/jss.v023.i11","article-title":"PresenceAbsence: An R package for presence absence analysis","volume":"23","author":"Freeman","year":"2008","journal-title":"J. Stat. Softw."},{"key":"ref_51","unstructured":"Silverman, B.W. (1986). Density Estimation for Statistics and Data Analysis, Chapman and Hall."},{"key":"ref_52","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wickham, H. (2009). ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-0-387-98141-3"},{"key":"ref_53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"704","DOI":"10.2307\/1935534","article-title":"The Anolis lizards of Bimini: Resource partitioning in a complex fauna","volume":"49","author":"Schoener","year":"1968","journal-title":"Ecology"},{"key":"ref_54","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2868","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1558-5646.2008.00482.x","article-title":"Environmental niche equivalency versus conservatism: Quantitative approaches to niche evolution","volume":"62","author":"Warren","year":"2008","journal-title":"Evolution"},{"key":"ref_55","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3419","DOI":"10.1007\/s10530-010-9740-9","article-title":"Improving and integrating data on invasive species collected by citizen scientists","volume":"12","author":"Crall","year":"2010","journal-title":"Biol. Invasion."},{"key":"ref_56","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1673","DOI":"10.1890\/09-0265.1","article-title":"Observer bias and the detection of low-density populations","volume":"19","author":"Fitzpatrick","year":"2009","journal-title":"Ecol. Appl."},{"key":"ref_57","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1390","DOI":"10.1111\/jbi.12297","article-title":"The effect of spatially marginal localities in modelling species niches and distributions","volume":"41","author":"Radosavljevic","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Biogeogr."},{"key":"ref_58","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"73","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1472-4642.2011.00854.x","article-title":"Equilibrium or not? Modelling potential distribution of invasive species in different stages of invasion","volume":"18","author":"Meentemeyer","year":"2012","journal-title":"Divers. Distrib."},{"key":"ref_59","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"585","DOI":"10.1098\/rsbl.2008.0254","article-title":"Predicting current and future biological invasions: Both native and invaded ranges matter","volume":"4","author":"Broennimann","year":"2008","journal-title":"Biol. Lett."},{"key":"ref_60","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2785","DOI":"10.1007\/s10530-011-9963-4","article-title":"Use of niche models in invasive species risk assessments","volume":"13","author":"Peterson","year":"2011","journal-title":"Biol. Invasion."},{"key":"ref_61","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"14","DOI":"10.17161\/bi.v5i0.40","article-title":"More complex distribution models or more representative data?","volume":"5","author":"Lobo","year":"2008","journal-title":"Biodivers. Inform."},{"key":"ref_62","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"319","DOI":"10.1177\/194008290900200304","article-title":"Species distribution modeling in the tropics: Problems, potentialities, and the role of biological data for effective species conservation","volume":"2","author":"Cayuela","year":"2009","journal-title":"Trop. Conserv. Sci."}],"container-title":["ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2220-9964\/4\/4\/2496\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T20:52:09Z","timestamp":1760215929000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2220-9964\/4\/4\/2496"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2015,11,16]]},"references-count":62,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2015,12]]}},"alternative-id":["ijgi4042496"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/ijgi4042496","relation":{},"ISSN":["2220-9964"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2220-9964","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2015,11,16]]}}}