Abstract
A review of the recent literature indicates that 16%–25% of current ecological research is based on interecosystem comparisons. These comparisons are made using three general approaches: Composite ecosystem comparisons strive to measure aggregate similarity of ecosystems; variable-focused comparisons strive to find how a few important characteristics vary among ecosystems; connection-focused comparisons concentrate on causal relationships and how mechanical function varies among ecosystems. Although ecologists make all the usual types of statistical errors, this review concentrates on five that are particularly common in comparative ecosystem analysis: (1) Results are biased by the choice of measured variables; (2) too many variables are measured, on (3) too few ecosystems; (4) interpretations are frequently based on probable coincidences; and (5) interecosystem comparisons are often informal. The consequences of these problems and remedial measures are discussed using visual and mathematical illustrations.
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Downing, J.A. (1991). Comparing Apples with Oranges: Methods of Interecosystem Comparison. In: Cole, J., Lovett, G., Findlay, S. (eds) Comparative Analyses of Ecosystems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3122-6_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3122-6_3
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