Description
Resumen: Recent calls for a greater focus on prediction in ecology are often motivated by the applied goal of forecasting the ecological impacts of global change. But prediction also advances basic research. I will give two examples from my own research in a sagebrush steppe plant community of how testing predictions has forced me to accept how little I actually understand about ecological systems, while also inspiring new questions and approaches. In the first example, about competition and coexistence, results of an experimental test conflicted with predictions from models based on observational data. The second example focuses on using long-term demographic data to predict the influence of weather on plant population growth, and the need for new sources of more mechanistic information.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2019
Citation Information
Peter B. Adler. "Advancing basic ecological research through prediction" (2019) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/peter_adler/184/