Open AccessHow reliable is the habitat suitability index as a predictor of great crested newt presence or absence?
Author(s) -
Andrew S. Buxton
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
herpetological journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.409
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 2634-1379
pISSN - 0268-0130
DOI - 10.33256/31.2.111117
Subject(s) - occupancy , environmental dna , triturus , habitat , biology , sampling (signal processing) , ecology , environmental resource management , environmental science , computer science , biodiversity , filter (signal processing) , computer vision
The application of a habitat suitability index (HSI) assessment to predict the use of ponds by great crested newts (Triturus cristatus) is commonly used in association with distribution and monitoring projects. Such projects are often used to inform development and planning decision making. However, this type of assessment is frequently misused, and misinterpreted. We used a large, commercially collected environmental DNA (eDNA) survey for great crested newt pond occupancy (489 ponds) to; (1) assess whether it is appropriate to use low HSI scores to rule out occupancy, (2) discuss the use of high HSI scores to identify ponds of high importance for the species and, (3) explore the eDNA detection method. We conclude that there is no evidence to support ruling out pond occupancy based on low HSI scores. However, the conventional view that ponds with HSI scores above 0.7 are of high importance to great crested newts is somewhat supported by the data. Both eDNA and direct observational survey methodologies suffer from sampling error and these need to be acknowledged in the analysis of large data sets.