Data synthesis and dynamic visualization converge into a comprehensive biotic interaction network: a case study of the urban and rural areas of Bogotá D.C

Documenting biotic interactions is pivotal for understanding ecosystem processes, and although there is a large amount of data in the scientific literature, it is overly dispersed in thousands of different sources with varying degrees of availability. Despite recent and partially successful efforts to integrate biotic interaction data at a global scale into single databases, those have mostly incorporated data for natural and conserved locations, while urban and densely populated areas remain largely under-sampled. Considering that filling these gaps is essential to make ecological inferences regarding human settlements and their adjacent surrounding environments, we employed Bogotá D.C. (Colombia) as a suitable and biogeographically interesting location to extensively compile interaction data into a database by conducting an exhaustive revision of the scientific literature and documenting interactions during field work in several locations within the study area. Moreover, we also developed an online tool to visualize and explore this database in a graphical and interactive way as a large network, with the aim of facilitating both simple and complex inferences from the data and attracting the non-scientific public. The resulting database comprises 4342 unique interaction records, consisting of 1566 species across most of the major clades of the tree of life. Titled as Biotic Interaction Network of Bogota, the interaction record database is continuously updated as new studies and datasets are published, aiming to display a holistic and up-to-date representation of the ecosystem dynamics of Bogotá, a nearly unprecedented approach carried out in an area that includes an urban environment.