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Published new bioclimatic modeling software

Bioclimatic modeling software inspired by the concept of "ensemble forecasting" has just been published in the prestigious journal about Ecology "Ecography" with the collaboration of the holder of the Chair “Rui Nabeiro” Biodiversity Chair.

Predicting the future is a risky and almost always doomed to failure. In an attempt to understand and quantify the uncertainties of the models foresight, has been defended the use and comparison of results with a number of models as large as possible ("ensembles"). One of the limitations associated with the creation of these ensembles, the studies that aim to simulate the response of biodiversity to climate change, is the lack of software that allows you to automate processes intensive in the field of bioclimatic modeling. To bridge this gap, Prof. Miguel B. Araújo, Rui Nabeiro holder of the Chair, has collaborated with researchers from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Grenoble, and University of Lausanne in Switzerland. As a result of this collaboration was recently published in the prestigious journal about Ecology "Ecography", the first bioclimatic modeling software using the paradigm of "ensembles". The software is a library that works on the computing platform R and can be downloaded for free on the Internet; it’s a open source software so it can be modified depending on the convenience of users. The software has the potential (flexibility) as well as limitations (simulations requiring intensive calculations are not possible) inherent in the computing platform R and the preparation of new software able to produce intensive calculation in "grid" format, is under study in collaboration with Brazilian colleagues at the University of Goiás. For more information about the software now see published here.

Published in 18 of July of 2009