Department of Geography, King's College London, London, WC2B 4BG, UK; School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia.
South African National Biodiversity Institute, Kirstenbosch Research Centre, Cape Town, South Africa; Centre for Invasion Biology, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Trends Ecol Evol. 2022 Feb;37(2):158-170. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2021.09.007. Epub 2021 Oct 30.
Context dependence is widely invoked to explain disparate results in ecology. It arises when the magnitude or sign of a relationship varies due to the conditions under which it is observed. Such variation, especially when unexplained, can lead to spurious or seemingly contradictory conclusions, which can limit understanding and our ability to transfer findings across studies, space, and time. Using examples from biological invasions, we identify two types of context dependence resulting from four sources: mechanistic context dependence arises from interaction effects; and apparent context dependence can arise from the presence of confounding factors, problems of statistical inference, and methodological differences among studies. Addressing context dependence is a critical challenge in ecology, essential for increased understanding and prediction.
语境相关性被广泛用于解释生态学中不同的结果。当由于观察条件的不同而导致关系的大小或符号发生变化时，就会出现这种情况。这种变化，尤其是当无法解释时，可能会导致虚假或看似矛盾的结论，从而限制我们对研究、空间和时间内的发现的理解和转移能力。我们将从生物入侵的例子中，确定由四个来源导致的两种类型的语境相关性：由于相互作用而产生的机制语境相关性；以及由于混杂因素的存在、统计推断问题以及研究方法之间的差异而产生的明显语境相关性。解决语境相关性是生态学中的一个关键挑战，对于提高理解和预测能力至关重要。
