Extending the generality of field experiments

Abstract

An objective of competition theory and, in fact, of any ecological theory, has to be the ability to make general predictive statements about the structure and behaviour of ecological communities. We have already explored the difficulties in arriving at general conclusions through collecting special cases (Chapter 2), and R. H. Peters (1980b) has provided a useful reminder that, in the absence of general principles, ecology becomes natural history. Therefore,Table 4.4 listed generality as one of the most important criteria to consider when planning ecological research.

General notions are generally wrong. M. W. Montagu (1710)

Caeser had his Brutus — Charles the First, his Cromwell — and George the Third...may profit by their example. Patrick Henry (1765)

To do science is to search for repeated patterns, not simply to accumulate facts.... R. H. MacArthur (1972)