'Niche modeling': that uncomfortable sensation means it's working. A reply to McInerny and Etienne

摘要

I thank McInerny and Etienne for their comments [1] on my article in TREE[2]. First, two points of clarification. I stated that ‘…models estimate some subset of the conditions within which a species can survive and reproduce (i.e., the niche)’ [2]. McInerny and Etienne interpreted the parenthetical statement as referring to the subset of conditions rather than the entire set. That was not my intent and I apologize for not making my meaning clear. They also suggest that I had said that Elith and Leathwick favored the term Species Distribution Modeling (SDM) ‘in order to retreat from ecology’. I was in fact discussing a more general retreat from the terms Ecological or Environmental Niche Modeling (ENM) based on ‘skepticism and uncertainty about these models…’, of which Elith and Leathwick were one example. Elith and Leathwick's stated motivation for SDM terminology is ‘…a healthy skepticism about which components of the niche are represented by predictions from an SDM’ [3], clearly indicating that they advocate SDM terminology out of uncertainty about the interpretation of the models. I admire that paper and its authors and I do not want to be perceived as misrepresenting them.