Work

‘biomod2' – extending presence–absence species distribution models to multiple data types

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: The R package biomod2 is one of the most widely used and versatile tools for species distribution modelling (SDM), enabling ecologists to calibrate, evaluate, and project species–environment relationships across space and time using multiple modelling algorithms and ensemble forecasting. Since its initial release, the package has undergone continuous improvement. Here, we present its latest and most comprehensive version, which substantially expands its scope by integrating diverse ecological data types into a unified modelling workflow. Beyond presence-only and presence–absence data, biomod2 now accommodates a wide range of abundance formats, including counts, multi-class abundance categories, and relative or absolute abundances, thereby also extending its applications to modelling biomass, land cover, and habitat suitability. We have fully restructured the workflow to improve usability and reproducibility, introducing clearer function organization, standardized parameter names, and substantially revised documentation. The update also includes new methodological features such as enhanced cross-validation schemes, improved pseudo-absence selection strategies, expanded model parametrization options, additional algorithms, and new tools for exploring and visualizing outputs. Together, these developments provide a more flexible, transparent, and easily shareable framework for species distribution modelling, supporting robust inference across a broad range of ecological questions.

Source: Ecography

DOI: 10.1002/ecog.08588

Authors: Maya Guéguen, Hélène Blancheteau, Rémi Lemaire‐Patin, Wilfried Thuiller