Plant ecology-trends and traits

Analyses of the methods and philosophies of study in plant ecology over 50 years indicate a dichotomy of approaches, characterized broadly by community ecology and by physiological ecology. Community ecology is highly descriptive, often lacking an experimental approach. Physiological ecology is experimental when the research is in controlled environments. Yet physiological ecology in the field is rarely experimental and is generally observational. Both groups fail to measure up to the scientific paradigm and consequently have limited capacities to establish theories and hypotheses based on the knowledge of basic mechanisms. However, in combination the two groups have the necessary experimental, observational and theoretical approaches for defining mechanisms; the key for ecology in the future is integration not differentiation, and a wider acceptance of the need to develop theories and risk the tests of their predictions.