How Can Overlooking Social Interactions, Space Familiarity or Other "Invisible Landscapes" Shaping Animal Movement Bias Habitat Selection Estimations and Species Distribution Predictions?

Species' future distributions are commonly predicted using models that link the likelihood of occurrence of individuals to the environment. Although animals' movements are influenced by physical and non-physical landscapes, for example related to individual experiences such as space familiarity or previous encounters with conspecifics, species distribution models developed from observations of unknown individuals cannot integrate these latter variables, turning them into 'invisible landscapes'. In this theoretical study, we address how overlooking 'invisible landscapes' impacts the estimation of habitat selection and thereby the projection of future distributions.