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Starzomski, Brian M; University of British Columbia; starzom@zoology.ubc.ca; Cardinale, Bradley J; Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin-Madison; bjcardinale@facstaff.wisc.edu; Dunne, Jennifer A; Santa Fe Institute; jdunne@santafe.edu; Hillery, Melinda J; Centre for Ecosystem Management, Edith Cowan University; m.hillery@ecu.edu.au; Holt, Carrie A; School of Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University; cholt@sfu.ca; Krawchuk, Meg A; Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta; megk@ualberta.ca; Lage, Melissa; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University; Melissa_Lage@Brown.edu; McMahon, Sean; Complex Systems Group, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee; seanmcm@utk.edu; Melnychuk, Michael C; Fisheries Centre, Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia; m.melnychuk@fisheries.ubc.ca. |
Although ecological research is progressing rapidly, the answers to certain key questions continue to elude us. This paper considers several of the contemporary challenges facing ecology. (1) Terminology is voluminous and often poorly defined, resulting in inefficient communication. (2) The concept of scale affects our inferences about system structure and function, requiring us to continue an almost heuristic investigation of breaks, domains, and integration. New tools that more explicitly incorporate scalar issues will need to be developed for progress to take place in the field of ecology. (3) Increasingly, it is expected that applied questions will be solved in less than a year. This demand for solutions from ecologists often produces short-term and... |
Tipo: Peer-Reviewed Reports |
Palavras-chave: Cross-discipline research; Foundations of ecology; Information-sharing database; Scale; Statistics; Terminology. |
Ano: 2004 |
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