Species Distribution & Ecological Niche Modelling Training Series Understanding the spatial distribution of marine mammals is critical for conservation planning, habitat management, and assessing the impacts of environmental change and human activities in marine ecosystems. Our training series in *Species Distribution Modelling (SDMs)* and *Ecological Niche Modelling (ENMs)* provides practical, hands-on instruction in the analytical tools used to investigate how environmental conditions shape species distributions. Explore the individual courses below to find the training most suited to your research or professional needs. Mechanistic Species Distribution Modelling / Ecological Niche Modelling with NicheMapR (MSDM01) Learn mechanistic species distribution and ecological niche modelling with NicheMapR in R. Hands-on live online course with microclimate modelling. https://prstats.org/course/mechanistic-species-distribution-modelling-ecolog... Model Validation for Species Distribution and Ecological Niche Modelling (MVSD01) Learn how to validate species distribution and ecological niche models. https://prstats.org/course/model-validation-for-species-distribution-and-eco... Standard modelling procedure for Species Distribution and Ecological Niche Modelling (SDMS01) Species Distribution and Ecological Niche Modelling is an applied R course teaching standard workflows for building, evaluating, and interpreting SDMs. https://prstats.org/course/standard-modelling-procedure-for-species-distribu... Species Distribution Modelling (SDMs) and Ecological Niche Modelling (ENMs) (SDMR07) Learn ENM and SDM modelling in R. Apply tools like Maxent and Biomod2 to predict species distributions and environmental niches. https://prstats.org/course/species-distribution-modelling-sdms-and-ecologica... Species Distribution Modelling With Bayesian Statistics (SDMB08) Model species distributions using BART in R. Covers uncertainty, variable selection, and full Bayesian workflow. https://prstats.org/course/species-distribution-modelling-with-bayesian-stat... These courses focus on transferable methods widely used to analyse species–environment relationships and predict habitat suitability using environmental, survey, telemetry, and observational datasets. Participants will learn how to implement modelling workflows in *R*, interpret ecological patterns, and generate spatial predictions that can support research and management decisions. The series covers the full modelling workflow, including: - *Building and interpreting species distribution models* from survey and environmental data - *Advanced modelling approaches*, including Bayesian SDMs - *Mechanistic niche modelling* incorporating physiological and environmental processes - *Model validation and evaluation* to assess predictive performance - *Applied modelling tools* such as Maxent, Biomod2, BART, and NicheMapR These methods are highly relevant for marine mammal research, including predicting habitat suitability, identifying environmental drivers of distribution, forecasting range shifts under climate change, and supporting marine spatial planning. Whether you work with *survey data, telemetry datasets, acoustic monitoring, or environmental covariates*, this training series provides a structured pathway to developing practical modelling skills for marine mammal ecology. Email oliver@prstats.org with any questions -- Oliver Hooker PhD. PR stats