Real-Time Ecology

Abstract

Gary Belovsky and colleagues (2004) are to be commended for their consensus document, “Ten Suggestions to Strengthen the Science of Ecology.” Regarding their suggestion 10 (“Ecology as a fundamental science is sometimes seen as distinct from the application of ecology to solve environmental problems”), I would argue that the distinction between fundamental science and the application of ecology to solve wider environmental problems leaves out an emerging field, which, for want of a better term, can be called “real-time ecology.” This field in turn has its own implications for both ecological science and problem solving.