Modeling potential distribution of vegetation communities in Wallonia (Southern Belgium)

In order to mitigate the biodiversity loss and destruction of ecosystems with heritage value, we have to know where biodiversity hotspots and threatened areas. However, the monitoring of these areas need a large amount of data and field survey costs time and money. These surveys are generally focused on biotopes of interest representing particular vegetation communities but also species habitats. Predict the distribution of these biotopes by modeling is a cost and time effective solution to guide or complete field surveys. Modeling the potential distribution of biotopes has also the potential to guide for ecological restoration. Indeed, surfaces of biotopes in good conservation status are often small and ecological restoration is needed to support species populations. This is particularly the case in the Walloon Region located in the southern part of Belgium. Biotopes modeling were conducted using the environmental and land-cover database developed by LifeWatch-WB project. Different modeling using state-of-the-art models (Random Forest and GAM) were carried out in order to produce potential distribution maps of biotopes useful to guide field surveys or ecological restoration.