Research overview: mechanistic versus correlative habitat models for cats

Most felid distribution models are correlative, fitting statistical relationships between occurrence and environment, but mechanistic models built from physiology and energetics offer a complementary approach. This overview surveys the strengths and weaknesses of each: correlative models are data-driven and easy to fit but assume relationships hold under new conditions, while mechanistic models can in principle extrapolate but demand detailed biological knowledge rarely available for elusive cats. It reviews efforts to combine the two. The synthesis frames the choice of modeling philosophy as consequential for climate projections, explaining why correlative methods dominate felid research while mechanistic thinking is invoked to interpret whether projected range shifts are biologically plausible.