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BIO 597 Spatial Analysis of Biodiversity

BIO 597 is a graduate course on spatial patterns of biodiversity and the data, models, and workflows used to study them.

The course emphasizes reproducible analysis, spatial ecological reasoning, and practical use of environmental predictors such as remote sensing products, climate surfaces, and microclimate data. Students will work with occurrence records, rasters, vector data, biodiversity metrics, species distribution models, landscape connectivity, and spatially explicit uncertainty.

Course Focus

  • Describe biodiversity patterns across space and scale.
  • Build reproducible spatial analysis workflows.
  • Evaluate spatial sampling bias, uncertainty, and model transferability.
  • Use species distribution models and machine learning carefully.
  • Connect biodiversity metrics to conservation questions and decisions.
  • Communicate spatial results through maps, figures, and written interpretation.

Site Structure

  • Syllabus: course expectations, grading skeleton, and policies.
  • Schedule: 10-week course outline.
  • Assignments: assignment templates and project milestones.
  • Software and Data: computing environment, packages, and data sources.
  • Resources: references, tutorials, and useful documentation.