Changes in version 1.0.0 (2026-09-15)                  

CRAN release

This is the first CRAN release of xnicher (formerly developed as nicher)
for fitting ecological niche models with ellipsoidal environmental
responses under the M hypothesis.

Model families

  - optimize_niche() supports nine likelihood families: presence_only,
    weighted, ip_weighted, skew_normal, skew_normal_weighted, skew_t,
    skew_t_weighted, ncst, and ncst_weighted.
  - Weighted families (weighted, ip_weighted, and their skew variants)
    use M-background environmental data through env_m.
  - Non-symmetric families (skew_normal, skew_t, ncst, and their
    weighted variants) model asymmetric or heavy-tailed environmental
    responses.

Model comparison and validation

  - S3 methods for logLik(), AIC(), BIC(), and nobs().
  - compare_xnicher() for side-by-side model comparison.
  - cv_xnicher() for k-fold and leave-one-out cross-validation of fitted
    xnicher objects.

Documentation

  - Vignettes covering the getting-started workflow, cross-validation,
    all weighted/non-symmetric likelihood families, and the
    Rhipicephalus microplus example with iso-suitability and geographic
    maps.
  - README examples cover the main model families.