Publications des scientifiques de l'IRD

Garcia-Quintas A., Roy Amédée, Barbraud C., Demarcq Hervé, Denis D., Bertrand S. L. (2023). Machine and deep learning approaches to understand and predict habitat suitability for seabird breeding. Ecology and Evolution, 13 (9), e10549 [13 p.]. ISSN 2045-7758.

Titre du document
Machine and deep learning approaches to understand and predict habitat suitability for seabird breeding
Année de publication
2023
Type de document
Article référencé dans le Web of Science WOS:001069678100001
Auteurs
Garcia-Quintas A., Roy Amédée, Barbraud C., Demarcq Hervé, Denis D., Bertrand S. L.
Source
Ecology and Evolution, 2023, 13 (9), e10549 [13 p.] ISSN 2045-7758
The way animals select their breeding habitat may have great impacts on individual fitness. This complex process depends on the integration of information on various environmental factors, over a wide range of spatiotemporal scales. For seabirds, breeding habitat selection integrates both land and sea features over several spatial scales. Seabirds explore these features prior to breeding, assessing habitats' quality. However, the information-gathering and decision-making process by seabirds when choosing a breeding habitat remains poorly understood. We compiled 49 historical records of larids colonies in Cuba from 1980 to 2020. Then, we predicted potentially suitable breeding sites for larids and assessed their breeding macrohabitat selection, using deep and machine learning algorithms respectively. Using a convolutional neural network and Landsat satellite images we predicted the suitability for nesting of non-monitored sites of this archipelago. Furthermore, we assessed the relative contribution of 18 land- and marine-based environmental covariates describing macrohabitats at three spatial scales (i.e. 10, 50 and 100 km) using random forests. Convolutional neural network exhibited good performance at training, validation and test (F1-scores >85%). Sites with higher habitat suitability (p > .75) covered 20.3% of the predicting area. Larids breeding macrohabitats were sites relatively close to main islands, featuring sparse vegetation cover and high chlorophyll-a concentration at sea in 50 and 100 km around colonies. Lower sea surface temperature at larger spatial scales was determinant to distinguish the breeding from non-breeding sites. A more comprehensive understanding of the seabird breeding macrohabitats selection can be reached from the complementary use of convolutional neural networks and random forest models. Our analysis provides crucial knowledge in tropical regions that lack complete and regular monitoring of seabirds' breeding sites.
Plan de classement
Sciences fondamentales / Techniques d'analyse et de recherche [020] ; Limnologie biologique / Océanographie biologique [034] ; Etudes, transformation, conservation du milieu naturel [082] ; Télédétection [126]
Description Géographique
CUBA ; CARAIBE ; ATLANTIQUE ILES
Localisation
Fonds IRD [F B010090236]
Identifiant IRD
fdi:010090236
Contact