Potential distribution of Japanese brome (Bromus japonicus) across the contiguous United States (October 2023)

This is a dataset containing the potential distribution of Japanese brome (Bromus japonicus). We developed habitat suitability models for Japanese brome, as suggested by Department of Interior land management agencies. We applied the modeling workflow developed in Young et al. 2020 to species not included in the original case studies. Our methodology balanced trade-offs between developing highly customized models for a few species versus fitting non-specific and generic models for numerous species. We developed a national library of environmental variables known to physiologically limit plant distributions (Engelstad et al. 2022 Table S1: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263056) and relied on human input based on natural history knowledge to further narrow the variable set for each species before developing habitat suitability models. We developed models using five algorithms with VisTrails: Software for Assisted Habitat Modeling [SAHM 2.2.2]. We accounted for uncertainty related to sampling bias by using two alternative sources of background samples, and constructed model ensembles using the 10 models for each species (five algorithms by two background methods) for three different thresholds (conservative to targeted). This data bundle contains a single file of tabular summaries by management unit (including each species/ ensemble type combination) and a subfolder for each species that contains the merged data sets used to create models, the six raster files associated with the species, and tabular outputs including response curve data, variable importance information, and model assessment metrics. Each of the six rasters represent the following:

1) 0.01 - one percentile threshold
2) 0.1 - ten percentile threshold
3) MaxSS - maximum sensitivity plus specificity threshold
4) 0.01 - one percentile threshold with Restricted Environmental Conditions
5) 0.1 - ten percentile threshold with Restricted Environmental Conditions
6) MaxSS - maximum sensitivity plus specificity threshold with Restricted Environmental Conditions

The bundle documentation files are:
1) 'project_metdata.xml' (this file) which contains the project-level metadata
2) managementSummaries.csv is the tabular summaries by management unit.
3) 'mergedDataset.csv' contains the merged data set used to create the models, including location and associated environmental data, for each species.
4) XX.tif where XX is the raster type explained above (threshold; masked or not).
5) responseCurves.csv is the tabular information need to produce response curves for each predictor retained in each of the 10 models produced for each species.
6) variableImportance.csv is the tabular summaries indicating predictor importance for each of the 10 models produced for each species.
7) assessmentMetrics.csv is the tabular summaries of assessment metrics for each model or ensemble for each species.