Abstract
<jats:p>Ecological models characterize complex ecosystems using representative data that mimic species requirements. However, spatially limited datasets often fail to represent a continuous surface of information across a study area. Therefore, a literature review of global peer-reviewed studies published between 2001 and 2024 was conducted to identify geospatial alternative sources for ecological modelers when in situ parameter data are unavailable. A total of 214 articles were reviewed to extract, define, and catalog the geospatial parameters used to represent habitat requirements in these studies. The resulting Excel dataset categorizes and ranks geospatial proxy parameters for habitat suitability modeling across four tabs: 1.)Category Definitions: Establishes a thematic framework defining six ecological categories used to classify the literature: Biodiversity, Climate, Human Impact, Hydrology, Soil, and Vegetation. Across all tabs, the categories are listed in alphabetical order rather than order of importance. 2.)Article Parameters: Catalogs all 214 reviewed articles, organizing them by citation, study goal, specific geospatial parameters used, Web of Science citation count, study notes, and assigned ecological categories. 3.)Top 20 Most Cited Articles: Ranks and subsets the top 20 most influential case study articles from the 214 reviewed by citation count as defined by the Web of Science citation count metric. 4.)Top 20 Parameters: Summarizes the frequency of the 20 most utilized geospatial parameters (e.g., Normalized Difference Vegetation Index [NDVI]) across all reviewed literature from the over 600 parameters identified. By detailing and prioritizing these documented spatial proxies, this dataset provides a standardized resource for spatially explicit parameters for use in ecological models. This work was funded by the Aquatic Nuisance Research Program’s focus on Next Generation Ecological Modeling.</jats:p>