With EcoCommons, you can investigate the distribution of a species under potential future climatic conditions. The Climate Change Experiment takes the results of your Species Distribution Modelling experiment, and projects that distribution for a certain year in the future with the climate information from one of several climate models. Select one of several greenhouse gas emissions scenarios to influence the climate models. Future climates are available from 2015 to 2085.

Note: You will need to run a (Multi) Species Distribution Model before you can run a Climate Change Experiment. 

Run a CC on EcoCommons

On the top of the page click on “Analysis Hub” and then on “Modelling Wizards”. Under “Secondary experiments” choose “Climate Change Experiment”.


Step 1: Description tab

  • Enter the title for your experiment in the first box (e.g. Future fox (Vulpes vulpes). 

  • (optional) You can also add a description of your experiment in the box below if you want to convey more information. Some researchers use this box to record their research questions or hypotheses for later referral.

  • Click “Next” on the bottom of the page.

Step 2: Source Model tab

  • Click "+ Select an experiment"
  • Select the species distribution model with which you would like to do your climate change projection and click "Close"
  • Check the box for the algorithm/s with which you would like to use.
  • Click “Next” on the bottom of the page.

Step 3: Projection tab

  • Click “+ Select future climate data".

  • In the pop-up box you can enter search terms to filter for required datasets or filter by collection, resolution and/or domain.

  • Once you have found the dataset/s you are looking for select them and click “Close”.

  • Click "Next" on the bottom of the page.

Step 4: Constraints tab

In this section you can select the area to which you want to project the climate change projection. By default, the projection will be in the same area as the trained area from your selected SDM. But you can select a different area here if you want to project to a different area. The different constraint options are:

  • Use Source SDM Experiment Constraint

  • This is the same constrained area as your SDM experimtnt. You can add a buffer around this are by nominating a distance in km. The buffer will be added on the map once you click outside the white box. 

  • Select constraints by pre-defined region

  • Select one of the region types that are currently available in the BCCVL: Local Government Areas, National Resource Management Regions, Australian States and Territories, IBRA 7 regions, River Regions, Drainage Divisions Level 1 or 2, Marine Ecoregions of the World, Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia (IMCRA4) Provincial or Meso-scale Bioregions.
  • Find the region of your interest in the drop-down menu. You can select multiple regions.
  • You can also add a buffer around the pre-defined region constraints.

  • Use Environmental Envelope

  • This is the geographic extent of where all selected climate/environmental datasets overlap.

  • Draw constraints on Map

  • Click on “Start drawing”, then click on the map to draw a shape on the map to which the model will be constrained.

  • Upload Shapefile 

  • Select a shapefile from your computer to use as the constraint.

  • Note: The model will be trained on the selected area, and the results will include a predicted distribution map for the constrained area, as well as a projection to the geographic extent of your environmental/climate layers.

  • Once you selected the constrained area click “Next” on the bottom of the page

Step 5: Run tab

  • Ensure you are happy with your experiment design.

  • If none of the tabs have a triangle with an exclamation mark, your experiment is ready to go.

  • Click “Start Experiment”.

  • If any of your tabs have a triangle with an exclamation mark, revisit them and ensure you have filled in each component correctly.


A log file will now be sent to our virtual machines where your experiment will be run. 

You can view the progress of your job under “My job”. Once your job is finished you can view the results by either clicking “View all results” inside your job or click on the “My results” tab under Workspace. 

For now, sit back and relax, grab a coffee, or do some other work without being hampered by a slower computer that is running heavy models in the background.