Timescales, dynamics, and ecological understanding
Timescales, dynamics, and ecological understanding
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DOI：
10.1890/10-0776.1
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发表时间：
2010-12-01
期刊：
影响因子：
4.8
通讯作者：
Hastings, Alan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hastings, Alan
明确考虑的时间尺度和动态是需要在生态学的基本问题的理解。内生动力学可以导致过渡状态，其中渐近行为与短时间尺度上的动力学非常不同。这类瞬态的原因可以分为三类：嵌入或表现出反应行为的不同时间尺度的线性系统，振荡系统在空间上达到同步的潜在时间很长，以及具有强密度依赖（非线性）相互作用的系统的复杂动力学。在确定内生动力学时，还必须包括生态系统固有的可能不同的时间尺度。我认为，生态系统的动态可以最好地理解为响应，其中可能包括瞬态动态，导致观察到的动态生态相关的时间尺度上的外源性影响。生态系统行为是由内源动力学控制的生态系统对外源影响的反应，这种观点提供了一种综合的方法来统一不同的种群动力学方法，理解决定物种分布和丰度的机制，并在适当的时间尺度上管理生态系统。这对理论方法、经验方法以及连接理论和观察的统计方法都有影响。
Explicit consideration of timescales and dynamics is required for an understanding of fundamental issues in ecology. Endogenous dynamics can lead to transient states where asymptotic behavior is very different from dynamics on short timescales. The causes of these kinds of transients can be placed in one of three classes: linear systems with different timescales embedded or exhibiting reactive behavior, the potentially long times to reach synchrony across space for oscillating systems, and the complex dynamics of systems with strong density-dependent (nonlinear) interactions. It is also important to include the potentially disparate timescales inherent in ecological systems when determining the endogenous dynamics. I argue that the dynamics of ecological systems can best be understood as the response, which may include transient dynamics, to exogenous influences leading to the observed dynamics on ecologically relevant timescales. This view of ecosystem behavior as responses of ecological systems governed by endogenous dynamics to exogenous influences provides a synthetic way to unify different approaches to population dynamics, to understand mechanisms that determine the distribution and abundance of species, and to manage ecosystems on appropriate timescales. There are implications for theoretical approaches, empirical approaches, and the statistical approaches that bridge theory and observation.