On Theory in Ecology

Prospective Application of Metabolic Ecology in Plant Ecology and Agricultural Science

“…Adv Plants Agric Res 2016, 4(1): 00122 to economy [2][3]. Research paradigm of metabolic ecology needs improvement through multidisciplinary interaction, especially in plant ecology and agricultural science, which provide the platform for the relevant theoretical and practical development (Figure 1).…”

“…The metabolic ecology and allometric theory become flourishing and widely developed in the field of ecology and theoretical physics by recent decades [1][2]. The quantifiable laws from metabolic ecology, which are based on statistical regression out of observational facts and derived through basic physics, were considered as a major breakthrough of the contemporary theoretical ecology.…”

An Operational Framework for the Advancement of a Molecule-to-Biosphere Stoichiometry Theory

“…The hypothesis was then called the Consumer-Driven Nutrient Recycling Hypothesis (Sterner et al, 1992). Hypotheses grow into fully-fledged theories through further integration of new observations, concepts, hypotheses and models, thus increasing their contribution to the understanding of the phenomena they are meant to explain (Pickett et al, 2007c;Marquet et al, 2014). Accordingly, the Consumer-Driven Nutrient Recycling hypothesis grew up into the field of ecological stoichiometry by incorporating more hypotheses, such as the growth rate and light:nutrient hypotheses (Sterner et al, 1997;Elser et al, 2000c).…”

“…Two other axes are the development of each component toward more realism and applicability; and integration, the connection among components toward better articulation (Pickett et al, 2007c). The ultimate objective of a theory being to generate understanding, it must also be judged by the advancement it provides to our comprehension of natural patterns (Pickett et al, 2007a;Marquet et al, 2014). Only when organized into a logical framework that assembles its components into an explicit structure, can a theory correctly predict or explain occurring natural patterns (Pickett et al, 2007b).…”

Embracing general theory and taxon-level idiosyncrasies to explain nutrient recycling

“…Still, there is considerable debate regarding the extent to which such constraints can be used to mechanistically understand and quantitatively predict the dynamics of particular ecological processes and systems (1). Although some would argue that first principles can serve as a basis for developing general quantitative theories that account for a broad range of ecological phenomena using few free parameters (2), others would argue that attempts to characterize life in such terms are of more limited value due to the taxonomic and functional distinctiveness of species, and the complexity of their ecological interactions (3). This debate concerning the existence (or lack thereof) of general laws is as old as Ecology itself.…”