Articles | Volume 16, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1391-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1391-2025
Research article
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01 Sep 2025
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 01 Sep 2025

A climate suitability index for species distribution modelling applied to terrestrial arthropods in the Mediterranean region

James M. Ciarlo', Monique Borg Inguanez, Erika Coppola, Aaron Micallef, and David Mifsud

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Cited articles

Adam, J. C. and Lettenmaier, D. P.: Adjustment of global gridded precipitation for systematic bias, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 108, 4257, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JD002499, 2003. 
Adão, F., Campos, J. C., Santos, J. A., Malheiro, A. C., and Fraga, H.: Relocation of bioclimatic suitability of Portuguese grapevine varieties under climate change scenarios, Front. Plant. Sci., 14, 974020, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2023.974020, 2023. 
Botsch, J. C., Zaveri, A. N., Nell, L. A., McCormick, A. R., Book, K. R., Phillips, J. S., Einarsson, Á., and Ives, A. R.: Disentangling the drivers of decadal body size decline in an insect population, Glob. Change Biol., 30, e17014, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17014, 2024. 
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Chief editor
The paper is timely: there is growing interest in the development of approaches to model species distribution and the one presented in this paper is novel, simple, and efficient. The topic is of significance for a broad audience, from ecologists interested in theoretical aspects to conservationists. While the analysis has a regional scope, the approach is generalisable and may be applied elsewhere.
Short summary
Climate change threatens biodiversity, especially that of arthropods, by altering species' habitats and ecological roles. This study presents a proof of concept for a novel index that models species distributions based on climatic niches, using regional climate model data and focusing on Mediterranean arthropods. The index enables quick assessments of species' climate resilience and offers potential applications for projecting ecological impacts of future climate changes.
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