11.03.2025: David GARCIA CALLEJAS “Towards understanding the inherent variability of biotic interactions", HS 32.01, Institut für Biologie, Bereich Pflanzenwissenschaften, Holteigasse 6, 17:00 Uhr
Ecologists seek to understand and predict the variations in abundance of species in their environment. To do so, a fundamental objective is to quantify the interactions between individuals of different species, as these interactions directly influence population abundances. In theory, biotic interactions and their structure are also the main ingredient to understand emergent patterns at the community level, like stability. However, quantifying biotic interactions is very challenging for different reasons. Therefore, a widespread simplification is to assume that interaction effects between two species are constant, effectively using static pictures of ecological communities to derive general insights. Yet, evidence is accumulating on the opposite: if anything, biotic interactions appear to be more labile than expected, both in their occurrence and in their magnitude. In this talk, I will discuss this observed variability of biotic interactions, how can we move forward in quantifying it robustly from empirical data, and what consequences may it bring to consider biotic interactions under this changing light.