ecoClimate, a new open-access repository with variables for the past, present and future climatic scenarios

Abstract

Varela, S., Terribile, L.C., de Oliveira, G., Diniz-Filho, J.A.F., González-Hernández, J., Lima-Ribeiro, M.S. 2015. ecoClimate, a new open-access repository with variables for the past, present and future climatic scenarios. Ecosistemas 24(3): 88-92. Doi.: 10.7818/ECOS.2015.24-3.11

Currently, researcher use Worldclim variables (worldclim.org) to calibrate ecological niche models (ENM) and then, they project those ENM into past or future climatic scenarios to map the species potential distribution in the past or in the future. The main problem of this approach is that past and future climatic scenarios are based on General Circulation Models (AOGCMs), which are based on physic models of climatic dynamics, and not on a statistic interpolation of weather stations (like Worldclim variables are). Calibrating a model using one type of climatic model (Worldclim) and projecting it into a different type of model (AOGCMs) is not correct. For that reason we decided to build a new dataset, ecoClimate (http://ecoclimate.org), an online repository with homogeneous climatic variables for the past, present and future, based on 9 different AOGCMs. Researchers can use these data to calibrate their models in the present, and project them into the past or future without any methodological problem.