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- Title
Commentary on Ditch, Stitch and Pitch: the niche is here to stay.
- Authors
Soberón, Jorge; Higgins, Steven
- Abstract
A recent set of discussion papers in the Journal of Biogeography by McInerny and Etienne (henceforth M&E) questions the value of niche concepts in relation to a diverse group of practices collectively labelled species distribution modelling ( SDM), and specifically the usefulness of the idea of a fundamental niche. In this Correspondence, I argue that certain types of SDM may indeed dispense with niche concepts, but that such is not the case for an important class of SDM-based activities, including transferring predictions in space and time. Using a single term ( SDM) to denote diverse objectives and practices does not help to clarify issues; I discuss this point. I also review several criticisms raised by M&E about the use of the concept of fundamental niche in the context of modelling species' distributions and their environments.
- Subjects
ECOLOGICAL niche; SPECIES distribution; ECOLOGICAL succession; ABIOTIC environment; BIODIVERSITY; WILDLIFE conservation; MATHEMATICAL models; MANAGEMENT
- Publication
Journal of Biogeography, 2014, Vol 41, Issue 2, p414
- ISSN
0305-0270
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/jbi.12258