EGU22-9467, updated on 02 Jan 2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-9467
EGU General Assembly 2022
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Predicting spatial distribution of benthic foraminifera using Species distribution models

Amao Abduljamiu1, Fabrizio Frontalini2, Ignatius Argadestya3, Michael Kaminski3, and Pamela Muller4
Amao Abduljamiu et al.
  • 1Center for Integrative Petroleum Research, College of Petroleum Engineering and Geosciences, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, 31261, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
  • 2Dipartimento di Scienze Pure e Applicate, Università degli Studi di Urbino “Carlo Bo”, Urbino, Italy
  • 3Geosciences Department, College of Petroleum Engineering and Geosciences, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
  • 4University of South Florida, College of Marine Science, St Petersburg, United States

In this study, we explore the use of Species Distribution Models (SDM) to infer spatial distribution of four species of benthic foraminifera around the globe. We modelled the distributions of Peneroplis planatus, P. pertusus, P. arietinus and Coscinospira hemprichii against a large collection of ecologically meaningful environmental variables (EMEV) variables in the Arabian Gulf. To identify combinations of effective predictor EMEV, we compiled several models and narrowed down to a subset based on set of predictive performance metrics. Mean iron concentration, diffusion attenuation, and dissolved oxygen were identified as important variables influencing the distribution of these species. The modelling task is essentially composed of two parts (1) Initial modelling of the actual known distributions of species in a well-defined basin and subsequent validation. (2) Spatial extrapolation over a global extent. Our model successfully predicted current habitat suitability for the four species within Arabian Gulf basin (AUROC = 92%).  It also identified areas along the western coastline as highly suitable habitats (Habitat Suitability Index > 0.8). Further, it reliably identified areas with known distributions of the four species (AUROC = 89%) around the world. Here we demonstrate how a SDM model can be a useful tool in capturing complex habitat features for benthic organisms and reduce sampling and accessibility concerns.

How to cite: Abduljamiu, A., Frontalini, F., Argadestya, I., Kaminski, M., and Muller, P.: Predicting spatial distribution of benthic foraminifera using Species distribution models, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-9467, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-9467, 2022.