Habitability has been generally defined as the capability of an environment to support life. Ecologists have been using Habitat Suitability Models (HSMs) for more than four decades to study the habitability of Earth from local to global scales. Astrobiologists have been proposing different habitability models for some time, with little integration and consistency among them, being different in function to those used by ecologists. Habitability models are not only used to determine whether environments are habitable, but they also are used to characterize what key factors are responsible for the gradual transition from low to high habitability states. Here we review and compare some of the different models used by ecologists and astrobiologists and suggest how they could be integrated into new habitability standards. Such standards will help improve the comparison and characterization of potentially habitable environments, prioritize target selections, and study correlations between habitability and biosignatures. Habitability models are the foundation of planetary habitability science, and the synergy between ecologists and astrobiologists is necessary to expand our understanding of the habitability of Earth, the Solar System, and extrasolar planets.

中文翻译：

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天体生物学的宜居性模型

宜居性通常被定义为环境支持生命的能力。四十多年来，生态学家一直在使用栖息地适宜性模型 (HSM) 来研究地球从局部到全球的宜居性。一段时间以来，天体生物学家一直在提出不同的宜居性模型，但它们之间几乎没有整合和一致性，在功能上与生态学家使用的模型不同。宜居性模型不仅用于确定环境是否宜居，而且还用于表征导致从低宜居状态逐渐过渡到高宜居状态的关键因素。在这里，我们回顾并比较了生态学家和天体生物学家使用的一些不同模型，并建议如何将它们整合到新的宜居标准中。此类标准将有助于改进潜在宜居环境的比较和表征，优先选择目标，并研究宜居性与生物特征之间的相关性。宜居性模型是行星宜居性科学的基础，生态学家和天体生物学家之间的协同作用对于扩大我们对地球、太阳系和系外行星宜居性的理解是必要的。