BENS7007 BIO3: Joint Species Distribution Modelling with Hierarchical Modelling of Species Communities (HMSC) (JSS31) (3 cr)

This course is designed for students and researchers who are interested in analysing community data in a way that allows placing their results in the context of modern theory. The course follows the book of Ovaskainen and Abrego (2020), thus covering a comprehensive treatment of Hierarchical Modelling of Species Communities (HMSC), including both the technical detail of the statistical methods, as well as the ecological interpretation of the results. With the help of worked out examples, the participants learn how to conduct and interpret statistical analyses in practice with the R-package Hmsc, providing a fast starting point for applying HMSC to their own data. The participants are encouraged to bring also their own data so that they can get hands-on support on HMSC-analyses of their own projects.

The participants will learn how to set up R-scripts that run the entire Hmsc pipeline from constructing and fitting the models to producing the result tables and figures, as well as how to write texts for how the analyses were done (for the Material and Methods section for your manuscript) and how to report the results (the Results section of your manuscript).

Some prior experience on the use of linear models, and some prior experience on the use of the R-environment.

Course book: Ovaskainen, O. and Abrego, N. 2020. Joint Species Distribution Modelling – With Applications in R. Cambridge University Press.