The Transferability of Ecological Model

The use of models by ecologist and environmental managers has grown exponentially in the past 50 years. Due to logistical, economical and theoretical benefits, model users are frequently transferring preexisting models (and ecological estimates) to new sites where data is scarce. Although, modelers have made significant progress in understanding how to improve model transferability and generalizability during model development, model users need better ways to evaluate the risks of misuse when transferring models. Our group has been working on a framework, we call a model application niche analysis. Using this framework ecologists synthesize information from databases and past studies to create model performance curves and heat maps. These visualization tools characterize a model’s application niche as a function of model performance and uncertainty across dimensions of context.

This project is associated with the EcoService Models Library (ESML), a database of ecological models that quantify ecosystem services. The ESML was designed, in part, to provide information about each model's transferability.