Before revision:  establish some common terminology, and review the immense scope of HMMs for applied ecological research  . By illustrating how practitioners can use a simple conceptual template to customise HMMs for their specific systems of interest, revealing methodological links between existing applications, and highlighting some practical considerations and limitations of these approaches, our goal is to help establish HMMs as a fundamental inferential tool for ecologists.
After revision:  establish some common terminology, and review the immense scope of HMMs for applied ecological research . We also provide a supplemental tutorial on some of the more technical aspects of HMM implementation and interpretation . By illustrating how practitioners can use a simple conceptual template to customise HMMs for their specific systems of interest, revealing methodological links between existing applications, and highlighting some practical considerations and limitations of these approaches, our goal is to help establish HMMs as a fundamental inferential tool for ecologists.