Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Connolly, Sean R.
• Keith, Sally A.
• Colwell, Robert K.
• Rahbek, Carsten

Titel

Process, Mechanism, and Modeling in Macroecology

Ist Teil von

• Trends in ecology & evolution (Amsterdam), 2017-11, Vol.32 (11), p.835-844

Ort / Verlag

England: Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2017

Quelle

ScienceDirect

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Macroecology has traditionally relied on descriptive characterization of large-scale ecological patterns to offer narrative explanations for the origin and maintenance of those patterns. Only recently have macroecologists begun to employ models termed ‘process-based’ and ‘mechanistic’, in contrast to other areas of ecology, where such models have a longer history. Here, we define and differentiate between process-based and mechanistic features of models, and we identify and discuss important advantages of working with models possessing such features. We describe some of the risks associated with process-based and mechanistic model-centered research programs, and we propose ways to mitigate these risks. Giving process-based and mechanistic models a more central role in research programs can reinvigorate macroecology by strengthening the link between theory and data. Macroecologists are increasingly using process-based and mechanistic models. Process-based models need not be reductionistic. Such models can be used for theoretical, statistical, and virtual-worlds modelling. These innovations allow stronger inferences about causes of ecological patterns.