WildMAPS: A Global repository and visualisation tool for habitat suitability predictions

Chrishen Robert Gomez , Harry Matchette-Downes, Jennifer F. Linden, Caroline Sartor, Guilherme Costa-Alvarenga, Thomas Pavey, Tyler Murray-Ramcharan, Dawn Burnham, Amy Dickman, Rob Salguero-Gomez

The Global Biodiversity Framework outlines a consensus of global targets for reversing the decline of biodiversity. A core theme that underpins the framework is the identification of areas that hold the most potential for realising positive outcomes for biodiversity. Identifying these areas is a complex process involving large scientific datasets and stakeholders from a range of background and disciplines. Habitat suitability models are a class of ecological models that identifies the habitat preferences of a species as a function of their observed distribution. Despite the central importance of these predictions to meeting global biodiversity targets, its use outside academia has been limited by academic journal paywalls, inconsistent reporting formats and technical statistical language. Overcoming these limitations presents an invaluable opportunity to increase the accessibility and usability of species predictions conservation decision-making. To that end, we developed WildMAPS- an open-source lightweight web platform that stores and visualises habitat suitability model predictions published in academic journals. To date, the platform hosts predictions of 52 taxa from three regions of biodiversity significance on an interactive GIS application. The published application marks the first step towards the harmonisation of published species predictions on a single platform that will facilitate the use of predictions in optimising resources for achieving local and global biodiversity targets.