The Janus Effect

[ChanelR]

Hi there,

 

So in recent years, biology and especially ecology, has taken a more quantitative approach to answering questions.

The Janus Effect is a phenomenon that scientists sometimes employ to draw broad-scale conclusions that are out of the focus of a small-scale study.

For example, finding a biochemical/genetic effect of a substance on an organism does not necessarily cause a population/ecosystem-level response.

Nonetheless, it is important to work step-wise up the ladder of organisation and determine these broad-scale effects.

 

How far do you think it is plausible/acceptable to extrapolate results from a regional quantitative landscape ecology to draw conclusions for other landscapes with roughly the same abiotic/biotic/spatio-temporal attributes? To what level is this accurate? Should we spend more time ground-truthing at the expense of further research?

[FarmForest Research]

I am not sure what you mean by ground truthing? I also think you sound like a troll for a creationist belief? No one uses truth in biology we use observations.

 

Hi there,

 

So in recent years, biology and especially ecology, has taken a more quantitative approach to answering questions.

The Janus Effect is a phenomenon that scientists sometimes employ to draw broad-scale conclusions that are out of the focus of a small-scale study.

For example, finding a biochemical/genetic effect of a substance on an organism does not necessarily cause a population/ecosystem-level response.

Nonetheless, it is important to work step-wise up the ladder of organisation and determine these broad-scale effects.

 

How far do you think it is plausible/acceptable to extrapolate results from a regional quantitative landscape ecology to draw conclusions for other landscapes with roughly the same abiotic/biotic/spatio-temporal attributes? To what level is this accurate? Should we spend more time ground-truthing at the expense of further research?

 

 

And the Janus effect I think you pulled out of thin very thin air.

[ChanelR]

I think it's important to understand the terminology in the question before you throw out a reply like that.Ground-truthing refers to making physical observations and seeing whether they coincide with what models predict. E.g. predicting distributions of grey herons on a large spatial scale requires ground-truthing, i.e. people checking for grey herons in the area the model predicts grey herons inhabit.The Janus effect is a simple analogy that looks at the relationship of any level of organisation by analysing the level below it, and allows us to make predictions to a level above. E.g. Looking at the effects of rainfall on a plant's fitness (indiviual level) and understanding the physiology of the effect (one level below), and allows us to predict what will happen to the population of this plant (one level above).