Ecological Discord and the Importance of Scale in Scientific Inquiry

Abstract

ABSTRACTScale is widely recognized today as an important concept in ecology because the scale of investigation determines the patterns and processes that can be observed. Ecological investigations can produce different outcomes depending on the scale at which observations are made, and ecological disagreements have occurred simply because investigators addressed the same question using different scales. Here I draw on quail research to illustrate the importance of scale in ecological studies and how lack of scale consideration can lead to discord. I use northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) as the focal species and discuss 2 areas of investigation (woody‐cover requirements and influence of rainfall) that are characterized by confusion and disagreement but where consideration of scale brings clarity. In the process, I discover 2 formerly unrecognized patterns: northern bobwhite use of woody cover is inversely related with spatial extent of observation, and the influence of rainfall on northern bobwhite abundance decreases with decreasing spatial extent. In both cases, consideration of scale clarifies muddled knowledge and creates a unified framework for management. Future ecological investigations should formulate research questions within a scale framework, provide an explicit statement of scale in methods, and interpret findings within a scale context to help advance wildlife science and management. © 2020 The Wildlife Society.