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Peer-Review Record

Species Distribution Modelling under Climate Change Scenarios for Maritime Pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton) in Portugal

Forests 2023, 14(3), 591; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14030591

by Cristina Alegria^1,2,*

, Alice M. Almeida¹

, Natália Roque^1,2,3

, Paulo Fernandez^1,4

and Maria Margarida Ribeiro^1,2,5

Reviewer 1:

Khairul Nizam Abdul Maulud

Reviewer 2: Anonymous

Forests 2023, 14(3), 591; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14030591

Submission received: 10 February 2023 / Revised: 27 February 2023 / Accepted: 4 March 2023 / Published: 16 March 2023

(This article belongs to the Section Forest Ecology and Management)

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Overall, this paper is on a very interesting and important subject area. This paper studies species distribution modeling under climate change scenarios. I have a few major points for this study. In the literature review, the authors should provide a more comprehensive review of the existing studies related to the subject topic. The references should be the latest.

The other comments are as follows;

Comments

1) The abstract is too general, Please add the significant quantitative findings,

2) The problem statements are very weak. Please provide more details, especially on why the distribution mapping was very important for the variety of species, especially in pine forests.

3) What are the gaps from the previous study?

4) The sentences need to be supported by the references;

a. Line 46-47

b. Line 52-53

c. Line 291-292

5) Please change all the values, for example (713 10³ ha ) to the unique number.

6) Please include a key map for readers to better understand.

7) Lines 149, 426 and 447 – It should be LULC, not LCLU.

8) What is the justification for using the MaxEnt method? What other methods are available for this study?

9) Why the 1000-point random sampling method was used in this study? The specific characteristic should be identified for better distribution in the error matrix.

10) The experimental study design should be shown in a flow chart or diagram.

11) What is the novelty of this study? The author should highlight it in a perfect academic writing style with thorough explanations.

12) Please elaborate on the findings and add more to the cross-validation statement to support your study.

13) My suggestion is that Figure A1 and Table A1 should be in the main manuscript.

14) The conclusion should be comprehensive, including the findings from the study, the significant results and the impact.

15) In conclusion, this article appears to be of local interest. To publish an article in a high-impact journal requires a strong level of novelty, a way forward, a perfect academic writing style and thorough explanatory processing.

16) Most of the references for the introduction and problem statement were not up to date. Please add more recent references for the introduction and problem statement.

17) The references should follow the MDPI style.

18) Please add a recent reference, especially for the years 2021 and 2022.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear Editor

Forests

This is a resubmission of the Manuscript ID: forests-2243721 - Major Revisions - after the revision in accordance with the two reviewers’ recommendations.

Journal name: Forests

Manuscript ID: forests-2243721

Type of manuscript: Article

Title: Species Distribution Modelling under Climate Change Scenarios for Maritime Pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton) in Portugal

Authors: Cristina Alegria *, Alice M. Almeida, Natália Roque, Paulo Fernandez, Maria Margarida Ribeiro

Received: 10 February 2023

E-mails: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

We would like to thank in advance to all referees for the comments and suggestions to improve the manuscript.

Regarding the specific comments of the two referees, we followed the main general suggestions, and the manuscript was changed accordingly.

The main comments that were pointed out and the changes made on the manuscript are uploaded in attachment.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Castelo Branco, 27 of February 2023

Cristina Alegria

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The study ‘Species Distribution Modelling under Climate Change Scenar- 2 ios for Maritime Pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton) in Portugal’ by Alegria et al. is a good piece of work and definitely has a potential for publication. The study is well executed and well written. However, I have some suggestion as well as queries which must be resolved.

Introduction is lengthy and has been divided in to unnecessary paragraphs.

Why RCP 4.5 and 8.5 were included in the study, why not the others, any specific reason.

Why only elevation was used as topographic variable, why not aspect and slope?

The weakest thing I found in the manuscript is the cited literature. An ample number of studies have been carried out on the topic and most prominent studies should be mentioned in the ms. There are many references which is more than 10 years old, some even more than 50 years. This issue should be resolved.