Beyond reductionism and scholasticism in plant community ecology

✍ Scribed by Keddy, Paul A.

• Book ID: 104617542
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1987
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 233 KB
• Volume: 69
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1573-5052
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00038702

✦ Synopsis

Recent progress in plant population biology is often used to argue that most questions in community ecology should be answered using a reductionistic approach. This progress may, however, be attributed to at least two other factors: (1) greater emphasis on clear questions with testable alternatives, and (2) greater agreement upon the important variables which describe the systems of interest. In plant community ecology there has been a tendency to collect data rather than pose clear questions, and there is lack of agreement on which community properties are most useful to measure. As a consequence, there is sometimes a tendency to debate concepts instead of posing clear questions. Other more productive avenues for community level ecology exist.