Bioclimate envelope models: what they detect and what they hide.

The bioclimate envelope models (BEM) treat species as if they were acting independently of their biotic environment, thus neglecting potential effects of predation, competition or mutualisms on range dynamics. Researchers argue accordingly that interactions between species may shape their spatial distributions on fine geographical scales, but are of minor importance at coarse scales, which are the main focus of BEM. However biotic interactions, not climate, are commonly considered the principal determinants of low-latitude range limits. Moreover, ecological research on biological invasions has broadly documented that biotic interactions affect species' performance throughout their established ranges.