Towards novel approaches to modelling biotic interactions in multispecies assemblages at large spatial extents

Ecoinformatics & Biodiversity Group, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark, Biometry and Environmental System Analysis, Faculty of Forest and Environmental Sciences, University of Freiburg, 79106 Freiburg, Germany, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Department of Computational Landscape Ecology, 04318 Leipzig, Germany, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Department of Ecological Modelling, 04318 Leipzig, Germany, School of Environment, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Department of Community Ecology, 06120 Halle, Germany, Computational Ecology and Environmental Science Group, Computational Science Laboratory, Microsoft Research, Cambridge CB3 0FB, UK, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientı́ficas, E-08003 Barcelona, Spain, Institute for Physical Geography, Goethe University Frankfurt, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Theoretical Ecology, Faculty of Biology and Preclinical Medicine, University of Regensburg, 93040 Regensburg, Germany, Laboratoire d’Ecologie Alpine, UMR-CNRS 5553, Université J. Fourier, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France, Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, 14469 Potsdam, Germany, Landscape Dynamics, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland ABSTRACT