Journal ArticleDOI
Yes! There are Resilient Generalizations (or “Laws”) in Ecology
Stefan Linquist,T. Ryan Gregory,Tyler A. Elliott,Brent Saylor,Stefan C. Kremer,Karl Cottenie +5 more
Reads0
Chats0
TLDR
A strategy for transforming the conceptual question about the nature of ecological laws into a set of empirically tractable hypotheses about the relative resilience of ecological generalizations across three dimensions: taxonomy, habitat type, and scale is proposed.Abstract:
It is often argued that ecological communities admit of no useful generalizations or "laws" because these systems are especially prone to contingent historical events. Detractors respond that this argument assumes an overly stringent definition of laws of nature. Under a more relaxed conception, it is argued that ecological laws emerge at the level of communities and elsewhere. A brief review of this debate reveals an issue with deep philosophical roots that is unlikely to be resolved by a better understanding of generalizations in ecology. We therefore propose a strategy for transforming the conceptual question about the nature of ecological laws into a set of empirically tractable hypotheses about the relative re- silience of ecological generalizations across three dimensions: taxonomy, habitat type, and scale. These hypotheses are tested using a survey of 240 meta-analyses in ecology. Our central finding is that generalizations in community ecology are just as prevalent and as resilient as those in population or ecosystem ecology. These findings should help to establish community ecology as a generality-seeking science as opposed to a science of case studies. It also supports the capacity for ecologists, working at any of the three levels, to inform matters of public policy.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Where Newton might have taken ecology
TL;DR: Inouye et al. as mentioned in this paper wrote that the science of ecology is about relationships among organisms and habitats, on all scales, and how they provide information that helps us better understand our world.
Book
Defending Biodiversity: Environmental Science and Ethics
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine arguments that are commonly offered in support of biodiversity conservation and adopt a skeptical viewpoint to thoroughly test the strength of each argument and demonstrate how scientific evidence can be integrated with philosophical reasoning, they help environmentalists to better engage with public debate and judiciously inform public policy.
Journal ArticleDOI
Generality and Causal Interdependence in Ecology
TL;DR: A hallmark of ecological research is dealing with complexity in the systems under investigation as mentioned in this paper. And one strategy is to diminish this complexity by constructing models and theories that are general. Al...
Journal ArticleDOI
Methodological advances for hypothesis-driven ethnobiology.
Orou G. Gaoue,Orou G. Gaoue,Jacob K Moutouama,Michael A. Coe,Matthew O. Bond,Elizabeth Green,Nadejda B Sero,Bezeng S. Bezeng,Kowiyou Yessoufou +8 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors synthesize methodological advances for hypothesis-driven research in ethnobiology while highlighting the need for more figures than tables and more tables than text in ethnobiological literature.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Are there general laws in ecology
TL;DR: It is argued that ecology has numerous laws in this sense of the word, in the form of widespread, repeatable patterns in nature, but hardly any laws that are universally true.
Journal ArticleDOI
Making Things Happen: A Theory of Causal Explanation
TL;DR: The Making Things Happen: A Theory of Causal Explanation as mentioned in this paper is a theory of causality that is based on the work of James Woodward. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2003, 410 pages, $74.00.
Journal ArticleDOI
Plant Reproductive Susceptibility to Habitat Fragmentation: Review and Synthesis Through a Meta-Analysis
TL;DR: A highly significant correlation between the effect sizes of fragmentation on pollination and reproductive success suggests that the most proximate cause of reproductive impairment in fragmented habitats may be pollination limitation.
Journal ArticleDOI
Critical evaluation of the nursery role hypothesis for seagrass meadows
TL;DR: Structure per se, rather than the type of structure, appears to be an important determinant of nursery value in seagrass meadows as well as other structured habitats.