Poster, 39th Annual Conference of the Ecological Society of Germany, Switzerland and Austria (GfÖ), Bayreuth: 2009-09-14 - 2009-09-18
Abstract:
Species Distribution Models (SDMs) are helpful tools to understand and interpret the ecological distributions of plants and animals and how these can alter as a consequence of climate change. In the last years such models became increasingly complex, trying to integrate more than one or a handful of variables. The consideration of complex and overarching characteristics such as land use, and of complex mechanisms such as biotic interactions (e.g. host plants or obligate partners) or dispersal, are major challenges on the way towards more realistic models. We present the fundamental concept of SDMs and discuss possibilities of this powerful tool, especially taking into account regional climate models for Central Europe. Furthermore, we highlight basic problems and frontiers of SDMs as well as upcoming questions.