Data from: PaleoENM: applying ecological niche modeling to the fossil record

Ecological niche modeling (ENM) is a quantitative approach to predict species’ abiotic requirements. It is a correlative technique, requiring geographically explicit information on species occurrences and the suites of environmental conditions experienced at each occurrence point. The output of these models is a set of environmental suitability rules that can be projected geographically and through time to test biogeographic, ecologic, and evolutionary hypotheses. Although developed by biologists and used extensively in the modern, ENM is in its early stages of application to the deep-time fossil record (hence PaleoENM). In part its limited use in the fossil record thus far reflects the methodological challenge of constructing paleoenvironmental layers needed for PaleoENM analysis, whereas in the modern these layers are available from large public databases (e.g., WorldClim). This paper provides a contextual and methodological framework for appropriately applying PaleoENM, including best practices for developing species occurrence and paleoenvironmental data sets for PaleoENM analyses.

生态位模型（Ecological Niche Modeling, ENM）是一类用于预测物种非生物生存需求的定量研究方法。该方法属于相关分析技术，需获取带明确地理坐标的物种出现点位信息，以及各点位所经历的一系列环境条件。此类模型的输出为一套环境适宜性判定规则，可在地理空间与时间维度上进行投影，用以验证生物地理学、生态学及进化学相关假说。尽管生态位模型由生物学家开发，并在现代生物研究中得到广泛应用，但将其应用于深时化石记录的尝试仍处于早期阶段，此类应用即古生态位模型（PaleoENM）。目前该方法在化石记录领域的应用较为有限，部分原因在于构建古生态位模型分析所需的古环境图层存在方法学层面的挑战；而在现代生物研究中，此类环境图层可从大型公共数据库（如世界气候数据库WorldClim）获取。本论文为古生态位模型的规范应用提供了情境化与方法学框架，涵盖了古生态位模型分析所需的物种出现记录与古环境数据集的构建最佳实践。