title: Equivalence of MAXENT and Poisson point process models for species distribution modeling in ecology.
abstract: Modeling the spatial distribution of a species is a fundamental problem in ecology. A number of modeling methods have been developed, an extremely popular one being MAXENT, a maximum entropy modeling approach. In this article, we show that MAXENT is equivalent to a Poisson regression model and hence is related to a Poisson point process model, differing only in the intercept term, which is scale-dependent in MAXENT. We illustrate a number of improvements to MAXENT that follow from these relations. In particular, a point process model approach facilitates methods for choosing the appropriate spatial resolution, assessing model adequacy, and choosing the LASSO penalty parameter, all currently unavailable to MAXENT. The equivalence result represents a significant step in the unification of the species distribution modeling literature.
authors: School of Mathematics and Statistics and Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, The University of New South Wales, NSW 2052, Australia. Ian.Renner@unsw.edu.au
authors: Ian W
authors: IW
authors: Renner
authors: David I
authors: DI
authors: Warton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004463:Ecology / Q000379:methods*; D017753:Ecosystem; D005052:Eucalyptus / Q000254:growth & development; D008954:Models, Biological; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009517:New South Wales; D012984:Software