Long-Term Studies in Ecology. Approaches and Alternatives

Abstract

I Overview and Alternative Approaches.- 1. Importance and Justification of Long-Term Studies in Ecology.- 2. Objective and Experiment in Long-Term Research.- 3. Retrospective Studies.- 4. The Role of Ecological Models in Long-Term Ecological Studies.- 5. Space-for-Time Substitution as an Alternative to Long-Term Studies.- 6. Ecological Experimentation: Strengths and Conceptual Problems.- 7. Additional Views Conditions and Motivations for Long-Term Ecological Research: Some Notions from Studies on Salt Marshes and Elsewhere 158.- Evaluating National Parks as Sites for Long-Term Studies.- The Value of Long-Term Experiments-A Personal View.- II Analyses, Conclusions, and Recommendations.- 8. What Questions, Systems, or Phenomena Warrant Long-Term Ecological Study?.- 9. How Can the Various Approaches to Studying Long-Term Ecological Phenomena Be Integrated to Maximize Understanding?.- 10. What Are the Difficulties in Establishing and Interpreting the Results from a Long-Term Manipulation?.- 11. How Far in Space and Time Can the Results from a Single Long-Term Study Be Extrapolated?.- 12. Are Currently Available Statistical Methods Adequate for Long-Term Studies?.- 13. How Can We Improve the Reception of Long-Term Studies in Ecology?.- 14. What Are the Tradeoffs Between the Immediacy of Management Needs and the Longer Process of Scientific Discovery?.- III Concluding Remarks.- 15. Concluding Remarks.