The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa 277-8563, Japan.
Trends Ecol Evol. 2011 Aug;26(8):383-8. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2011.04.003. Epub 2011 May 6.
In any ecological study, target organisms are usually impacted by multiple environmental drivers. In plant interaction research, recent debate has focussed on the importance of competition; that is, its role in regulating plant success relative to other environmental drivers. Despite being clearly and specifically defined, the apparently simple concept of the importance of competition has been commonly overlooked, and its recognition has helped reconcile long-running debates about the dependence of competition on environmental severity. In this review, we argue that extending this formalised concept of importance to other aspects of ecology would be beneficial. We discuss approaches for measuring importance, and provide examples where explicit acknowledgement of this simple concept might promote understanding and resolve debate.
在任何生态研究中，目标生物通常会受到多种环境驱动因素的影响。在植物相互作用研究中，最近的争论集中在竞争的重要性上；也就是说，它在相对于其他环境驱动因素调节植物成功方面的作用。尽管竞争的重要性这一概念已经被明确和具体地定义，但它显然经常被忽视，而对其的认识有助于调和关于竞争对环境严重程度的依赖性的长期争论。在这篇综述中，我们认为将这个形式化的重要性概念扩展到生态学的其他方面将是有益的。我们讨论了衡量重要性的方法，并提供了一些例子，明确承认这个简单的概念可能会促进理解和解决争论。
