There is no consensus on when biotic interactions impact the range limits of species. Starting from MacArthur’s use of invasibility to understand how biotic interactions influence coexistence, here we examine how biotic interactions shape species distributions. Range limits emerge from how birth, death, and movement rates vary with the environment. We clarify some basic issues revolving around niche definitions, illustrated with simple resource–consumer theory. We then highlight two different avenues for linking community theory and range theory; the first based on calculating the effects of biotic interactions on range limits across scales and landscape configurations, and the second based on aggregate measures of diffuse interactions and network strength. We conclude with suggestions for a future research agenda.

关于生物相互作用何时影响物种的范围限制尚无共识。从麦克阿瑟（MacArthur）对入侵的理解开始，以了解生物相互作用如何影响共存，在这里，我们研究生物相互作用如何影响物种分布。范围限制是由出生，死亡和运动速度随环境的变化而产生的。我们阐明了围绕利基定义的一些基本问题，并用简单的资源－消费者理论进行了说明。然后，我们强调了将社区理论和范围理论联系起来的两种不同途径。第一个基于计算生物交互作用对跨尺度和景观配置的范围限制的影响，第二个基于扩散交互作用和网络强度的总体度量。最后，我们提出了有关未来研究议程的建议。