Determining the Ecological Niche of a Species Using GIS

The ecological niche of a species can shift due to changing environmental conditions and lead to the species to undergo selective pressures to adapt to them. Ecological niche models are used to predict a species’ distribution based on its ecological niche. Ecological niche models can be integrated with a geographic information system to predict a species’ geographic distribution based on environmental variables. In this project, two reptile species that inhabit wide and variable geographic ranges, Uta stansburiana and Gopherus berlandieri, had their ecological niches predicted and mapped based off population data and climactic data. These ecological niche maps were then compared to sample populations of each species to infer and predict whether certain populations of each species were possibly under increased selective pressures. Based off these maps and comparisons, this study infers that the two species differ in which environmental variables are the most relevant to their suitability. This study also predicts that populations of U. stansburiana experiencing extremes in their most relevant values for temperature and precipitation could be under greater selective pressures, while populations of G. berlandieri experiencing lower values for their relevant temperature and precipitation variables could be under greater selective pressures. Furthermore, it can be inferred from this study that differences in these variables across each species’ range could be influencing genetic variation among their populations, in line with previous studies. Further genomic study of each species can be used to test these inferences.