The Polar Center, and Department of Biology, Penn State University, 208 Mueller Lab, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2013 Jul 8;368(1624):20120477. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2012.0477. Print 2013 Aug 19.
Despite uncertainties related to sustained funding, ideological rivalries and the turnover of research personnel, long-term studies and studies espousing a long-term perspective in ecology have a history of contributing landmark insights into fundamental topics, such as population- and community dynamics, species interactions and ecosystem function. They also have the potential to reveal surprises related to unforeseen events and non-stationary dynamics that unfold over the course of ongoing observation and experimentation. The unprecedented rate and magnitude of current and expected abiotic changes in tundra environments calls for a synthetic overview of the scope of ecological responses these changes have elicited. In this special issue, we present a series of contributions that advance the long view of ecological change in tundra systems, either through sustained long-term research, or through retrospective or prospective modelling. Beyond highlighting the value of long-term research in tundra systems, the insights derived herein should also find application to the study of ecological responses to environmental change in other biomes as well.
尽管长期研究和具有长期观点的研究在生态学中面临着持续资金、意识形态竞争和研究人员更替等方面的不确定性，但它们在诸如种群和群落动态、物种相互作用和生态系统功能等基本主题上有着提供里程碑式见解的历史。它们还有可能揭示与正在进行的观察和实验过程中出现的意外事件和非稳态动态相关的惊喜。目前和预期的苔原生态环境中生物因素变化的前所未有的速度和规模，要求对这些变化引起的生态响应范围进行综合概述。在本期特刊中，我们通过持续的长期研究或通过回顾性或前瞻性建模，展示了一系列推进苔原生态系统中生态变化的长远观点的研究成果。除了强调长期研究在苔原生态系统中的价值外，本文所获得的见解也应该适用于对其他生物群落中生态对环境变化的响应的研究。
