Filling key gaps in population and community ecology

We propose research to fill key gaps in the areas of population and community ecology, based on a National Science Foundation workshop identifying funding priorities for the next 5-10 years. Our vision for the near future of ecology focuses on three core areas: predicting the strength and context-dependence of species interactions across multiple scales; identifying the importance of feedbacks from individual interactions to ecosystem dynam- ics; and linking pattern with process to understand species coexistence. We outline a combination of theory devel- opment and explicit, realistic tests of hypotheses needed to advance population and community ecology.

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