DIVA-GIS

I have just uploaded a new version (7.5) of the program with minor improvements and an updated manual. A very good 2012 to all!

Are you interested in better software for Species Distribution Modeling (ecological niche modeling; climate envelope modeling)? DIVA-GIS provides some functionality that is particularly useful to learn how it all works.

For more advanced methods, you can try the dismo package in R. See the Species distribution modeling with R vignette for an introduction.

And, if you want, you can display the results in DIVA-GIS...

Xavier Scheldeman and Maarten van Zonneveld of Bioversity International have written an excellent training manual for spatial data analysis. It uses DIVA-GIS together with a number of other programs.

The manual uses DIVA-GIS and other tools such as MaxEnt to help answer common questions relating to the spatial analysis of biodiversity data. It was written for scientists and students who want to develop skills to effectively carry out spatial analysis based on (free) GIS applications with a focus on diversity and ecological analyses. It has several interesting examples, including on the spatial analysis of molecular data. The manual and the data for the exercises can be downloaded here.