Accessible ecology: synthesis of the long, deep, and broad

Large volumes of data have been collected to document the many ways that ecological systems are responding to changing environmental drivers. A general buy-in on solutions to these problems can be reached only if these and future data are made easily accessible to and understood by a broad audience that includes the public, decision-makers, and other scientists. A developing framework for synthesis is reviewed that integrates three main strategies of ecological research (long-term studies; short-term, process-based studies; and broad-scale observations) with derived data products and additional sources of knowledge. This framework focuses on making data from multiple sources and disciplines easily understood by many, a prerequisite for finding synthetic solutions and predicting future dynamics in a changing world.