What’s wrong with null models?

A guest post by Carsten F. Dormann Over the last years, I have been using null models more often than I liked. I had to, when there was no other way to figure out if an ecological pattern was unexpected, or trivial. Inspired by some recent (and also some older) posts, I thought I might throw around…

Modelling ecosystems from first principles

I just returned from Tromø, Norway, from a workshop on “modeling marine systems from first principles”. I should probably concentrate on the scientific part here, but I feel I can’t go there before saying that the venue was stunning – the meeting was organized at Sommarøy, a small island close to Tromø, and for the…