Join our next Postgraduate or Undergraduate Open Day. What makes for good exploratory research? It was a very good script, and Ambika read it very well, which made it a very good talk. Was corresponding with a colleague recently about what makes for good exploratory research in ecology and evolution. I think this is a specific illustration of a broader point. The usual advice to seminar speakers is “don’t read your talk”. Tides of the sea, a bird flying in the sky are examples of dynamics. Populations in Ecology. And if robustness checks should be routine, where do they belong? 1996-2000: 333. I think it’s fine to read your talk, if that works for you. They are used to explain population dynamics in relation to demographic processes, and to predict the fate of the population.The methods differ in a) convenience of data collection, b) basic assumptions and c) the way they derive population growth rate. And maybe there’s a feedback loop–people stop citing “personal communication” because they don’t see anyone else doing it. The nature of connections in ecological communities cannot be explained by knowing the details of each species in isolation, because the emergent pattern is neither revealed nor predicted until the ecosystem is studied as an integrated whole. Theory in ecology consists of the he⦠The Dynamics of Social Ecology Both ecological and socio-economic processes can best be understood as examples of complex, adaptive systems that adjust dynamically to exogenous and endogenous changes. I’m not sure! [1] The theoretical practice of ecology consists, by andlarge, of the construction of models of the interaction of livingsystems with their environment (including other living systems). Hanski, Ilkka, and Oscar E. Gaggiotti. But presumably, not all exploratory studies are created equal. It was an unusual talk: Ambika read it word-for-word from a script. Which some economists complain about, because it makes the paper more difficult and boring to read. Alternatively, one could put robustness checks into an online appendix. Definition of Ecology 2. dynamics and alternative concepts of landscape equilibrium. Please contact Mike Fowler with any other enquiries or interest you have about DEG activities. Each population has a unique physical distribution in time and space. Each of those aphids, in turn, support diverse bacterial communities. Plus, the authors can’t possibly anticipate all the alternative ways in which readers might’ve wanted them to analyze the data. In ecology, many terms have been defined to explain the state of a system over time, how readily that system state changes, and the trajectory of change in response to a disturbance or One of the first edited books on metapopulation dynamics, which includes chapters that explicitly address metacommunities. An ecosystem's area can vary greatly, from tiny to vast. The authors also prohibit other uses including copying or republishing entire or substantial portions of posts without the author's permission, but do allow quoting small sections as allowed by fair use law for purposes of commentary and criticism. Take the poll! However, the authors retain all other rights to the posts including the rights to republish elsewhere and to charge for access. So if, as a reviewer or reader, you wonder how a different story would’ve turned out, well, that’s your problem. History 4. 1991-1995: 345. Landscape dynamics are the major focus in landscape studies where spatial processes affect ecological processes (Forman and Godron 1981).At the end of the 1980s, after the publication of the seminal book Landscape Ecology (Naveh and Lieberman 1984) and the founding of the journal Landscape Ecology by Frank Golley, the interests of many ecologists and architects ⦠(Field-work in ecology also consists of data collection thatneed not be inspired by any theory.) Naess formulated deep ecology in 1973 at an environmental conferenc⦠I feel like natural historical papers are particularly likely to cite personal communications for natural historical information that is stored in the heads of natural historians rather than written down in a citable source. The jumping-off point for the conversation was Brian’s old post in praise of exploratory statistics. Exogenous changes in weather patterns may, for example, create opportuni - Population Dynamics. [2]These models are then tested in the laboratory and thefield. Here’s some data I compiled. A number of The concept of dynamics is derived from Physics. * So what makes an exploratory study good? Just choose whatever analysis you want, because your choice doesn’t matter. He argues that the prevailing approach to environmental management is anthropocentric, and that the natural environment is not only "more complex than we imagine, it is more complex than we can imagine." The tundra and desert biomes occupy the most extreme environments, with little or no moisture and extremes of temperature acting as harsh selective agents on organisms that occupy these areas. *Heck, once in a while you can put robustness checks in the main text of the paper and some readers will still overlook them. Luca Börger is currently organising the Biosciences Research Seminar Series. A team of creative visionaries, investors, and independent contractors who provide a platform for a complete holistic approach towards sustainability. Also this week: all the reasons Jeremy’s now looking forward to the rest of this year less than he was a week ago, forward vs. reverse causal inference, and more. Citing “personal communication” was a thing back in the day–but not so much any more. When a scientist is credibly accused of serious scientific misconduct, one or more institutions–often but not always the accused’s employer–launches a formal investigation. There often are different ways of doing a statistical analysis, all of them defensible. I don’t know that this is all that important in itself. Yesterday, I polled y’all on robustness checks–different ways of doing a statistical analysis that lead to the same broad conclusion, thereby indicating that the conclusion is robust. Take a quick poll! 2004. # Dynamic ecosystem view A major paradigm shift in ecology from the âequilibriumâ view of ecosystems to a âdynamicâ view occurred in the 1980's. Sometimes, different statistical choices lead to different results. Also this week: yes of course Jonathan Pruitt is still collecting retractions like they’re going out of style, women vs. natural philosophy, Coursera IPO, in praise of arbitrary journal formatting requirements, people-first labs vs. results-first labs, oceanography vs. math, Excel will never die, and more. The OIG reports on its activities to Congress every 6 months. DEG members have developed and are running a weekly “Stats-drop in session” for UG & PG students who wish to discuss any issues related to data handling, analysis and interpretation. That is, cases in which the scientific conclusion is robust to different statistical choices? The reports are public, you can read them online. It doesn’t just mean “I prefer to read my talks.” Because if you read your talk badly–in a monotone, for instance, or if you keep losing your place–then I don’t think reading your talk actually works. So you should totally read on. General Overviews. Please contact Jim Bull with any specific queries about this project. This chapter provides a brief overview of computational tools based upon modern dynamical systems theory that help ecologists (and other scientists) ⦠The scientific thing you’ve done, or will do, that will one day cause future grad students to look at you and think “Jeez, you’re old.”. Amsterdam: Elsevier. As part of my ongoing efforts to educate myself about scientific misconduct, I skimmed the five most recent OIG reports. Go download the data (which, these days, the authors are probably required to share on a public repository), and conduct your own robustness checks. Your paper can describe the alternative analyses you ran, and then say “These alternative analyses (not shown) led to the same conclusions as the main analysis, indicating that the results are robust.”. It’s the authors’ responsibility, and privilege, to argue for their scientific conclusion however they think best. What explains average ab⦠But we all know that nobody reads online appendices–often even the reviewers don’t. Through a case study on Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park, learners will explore how scientists study ecosystems, and investigate the complex array of factors that inform management efforts. Here’s what I learned. I’ve heard that the late Bill Hamilton used to read his talks–with his back to the audience and mumbling. And I asked, as a reviewer or reader, if you usually want authors to include robustness checks, and if so, where. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! I don’t think the decline in “personal communication citations” is either a problem to be solved or a victory to be celebrated. But here are a few tentative thoughts: I recently had the pleasure of hosting a remote seminar by Ambika Kamath in my department’s EEB seminar series. ecology as a discipline. popUlations. Definition of Ecology: Ecology is a Greek word which means the study of the habitation of living organisms (oikos=habitation, logos=discourse). The study of a speciesâ population dynamics usually seeks to answer questions such as: 1. Research within DEG directly links with that conducted within the Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Research, Biocontrol and Natural Products, Swansea Laboratory for Animal Movement and the Mathematics Department. Many translated example sentences containing "dynamic ecology" â French-English dictionary and search engine for French translations. Understanding temporal dynamics is becoming more important in the Anthropocene. Missed this at the time, but back in December Charles Krebs listed what he sees as the 10 most important factors limiting the progress of ecology. Population dynamics is one of the fundamental areas of ecology, forming both the basis for the study of more complex communities and of many applied questions. DYNAMIC INTERACTIONISM: " Dynamic interactionism looks at behaviour and personality ." A major component of modern ecological research focuses on understanding what influences the abundance of organisms within a population, and why this abundance changes over time. A population describes a group of individuals of the same species occupying a specific area at a specific time. In economics, they go in the main text of the paper. Ecosystems are dynamic, they do not always follow a linear successional path, but they are always changing, sometimes rapidly and sometimes so slowly that it can take thousands of years for ecological processes to bring about certain successional stages of a forest. Deep ecology is an ideology whose metaphysical underpinnings are deeply concerned with the science of ecology. Deciding how many terms your statistical model should include. So the percentage of Ecology papers citing “personal communication” has cratered, just within the professional careers of active senior ecological researchers. Dynamic Ecology. Resource availability after disturbance changes in four ways: through transformation of resources directly by the disturbance event; through changes in biotic uptake; through flows of organic matter, nutrients, water, ⦠I can think of a few not-mutually-exclusive hypotheses to explain this. Chances are when you hear the word 'population,' you immediately think of the size of a human population. The copyright holders have made these posts available on the Dynamic Ecology website at the present time for reading and commenting to benefit the scientific community. A population is a group of individuals (all members of a single species) who live together in the same habitat and are likely to interbreed. If you are planning to visit the University and would like to present your research to a wide audience, please contact Luca. They’re pretty interesting, and surprising to Brian (I wasn’t that surprised). common in fishery science and quantitative ecology. They’ll ask “Did you correct for [thing]?” “Are you sure the results aren’t driven by [small subset of data]?” “Wouldn’t it be more rigorous to do [alternative analysis]?” That’s why, in some fields (economics is one), it’s routine for papers to include “robustness checks”, also known as “alternative specifications”. A Definition of Chaos The simplest and most intuitive definition of chaos is extreme sensitivity to initial conditions.