The paper by Jorge Soberón and A. Townsend Peterson discusses the estimation of fundamental ecological niches (FNE) and species' distributional areas, emphasizing the importance of both abiotic and biotic factors in determining these areas. The authors outline two main approaches: the mechanistic approach, which involves direct measurement of physiological responses to environmental factors, and the correlative approach, which uses statistical models to relate species occurrences to environmental data. They highlight the limitations of each approach and provide a theoretical framework to clarify the interpretation of results from these models. The paper also explores different scenarios where these models can be applied, such as when the fundamental niche and the actual distribution of a species overlap or when they do not. The authors emphasize the need for careful interpretation of results, especially when using absence data, and propose best practices for developing predictive models, including considerations of scale, the use of absence information, and model validation. The discussion aims to provide a more formal understanding of ecological niche modeling and its applications in various fields.The paper by Jorge Soberón and A. Townsend Peterson discusses the estimation of fundamental ecological niches (FNE) and species' distributional areas, emphasizing the importance of both abiotic and biotic factors in determining these areas. The authors outline two main approaches: the mechanistic approach, which involves direct measurement of physiological responses to environmental factors, and the correlative approach, which uses statistical models to relate species occurrences to environmental data. They highlight the limitations of each approach and provide a theoretical framework to clarify the interpretation of results from these models. The paper also explores different scenarios where these models can be applied, such as when the fundamental niche and the actual distribution of a species overlap or when they do not. The authors emphasize the need for careful interpretation of results, especially when using absence data, and propose best practices for developing predictive models, including considerations of scale, the use of absence information, and model validation. The discussion aims to provide a more formal understanding of ecological niche modeling and its applications in various fields.