Modelling the Potential Distribution of Golden Eagle Based on Maximum Entropy : The Experimental Cases of Sweden and Norway

Abstract: Species extinction is a major concern that affect all countries and continents. Norway and Sweden are not spared by these concerns. Therefore, several studies have led to creating a better understanding about the factors which contribute to the expansion of specific species such as the golden eagle among others. However, climate data such as the temperature and rainfall precipitation have not yet been considered as significant parameters. This study aims to experimentally investigate whether climate data can have an impact on the distribution of the threatened bird using maximum entropy modelling. In order to investigate such impact, climate data were acquired from a global climate data provider (worldclim) and the presence-only occurences of the studied bird downloaded from species data providers (www.gbif.org and www.artdatabanken.no). The results showed that the annual mean temperature was a shared factor in both Sweden and Norway. The maximum entropy modelling can be envisaged as an alternative or a complement to current techniques in GIS applications. Keywords: maximum entropy, golden eagle, species distribution, visualization, climate data.