perspective: Losing time? Incorporating a deeper temporal perspective into modern ecology

Abstract

Ecologists readily acknowledge that a temporal perspective is essential for untangling ecological complexity, yet most studies remain of relatively short duration. Despite a number of excellent essays on the topic, only recently have ecologists begun to explicitly incorporate a historical component. Here we provide several concrete examples drawn largely from our own work that clearly illustrate how the adoption of a longer temporal perspective produces results significantly at odds with those obtained when relying solely on modern data. We focus on projects in the areas of conservation, global change and macroecology because such work often relies on broad-scale or synthetic data that may be heavily influenced by historic or prehistoric anthropogenic factors. Our analysis suggests that considerable care should be taken when extrapolating from studies of extant systems. Few, if any, modern systems have been unaffected by anthropogenic influences. We encourage the further integration between paleoecologists and ecologists, who have been historically segregated into different departments, scientific societies and scientific cultures