Title
Towards a unified study of multiple stressors: divisions and common goals across research disciplines
Author(s)
Orr, J.A., Vinebrooke, R.D., Jackson, M.C., Kroeker, K.J., Kordas, R.L., Mantyka-Pringle, C., Van den Brink, P.J., De Laender, F., Stoks, R., Holmstrup, M., Matthaei, C.D., Monk, W.A., Penk, M.R., Leuzinger, S., Schäfer, R.B. and Piggott. 2020.
Published
2020
Publisher
Proceedings of the Royal Society B 287: 20200421.
Abstract
Anthropogenic environmental changes, or ‘stressors’, increasingly threaten biodiversity
and ecosystem functioning worldwide. Multiple-stressor research is a
rapidly expanding field of science that seeks to understand and ultimately predict
the interactions between stressors. Reviews and meta-analyses of the
primary scientific literature have largely been specific to either freshwater,
marine or terrestrial ecology, or ecotoxicology. In this cross-disciplinary study,
we review the state of knowledge within and among these disciplines to highlight
commonality and division in multiple-stressor research. Our review goes
beyond a description of previous research by using quantitative bibliometric
analysis to identify the division between disciplines and link previously disconnected
research communities. Towards a unified research framework,we discuss
the shared goal of increased realism through both ecological and temporal complexity,
with the overarching aim of improving predictive power. In a rapidly
changing world, advancing our understanding of the cumulative ecological
impacts of multiple stressors is critical for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem
management. Identifying and overcoming the barriers to interdisciplinary
knowledge exchange is necessary in rising to this challenge. Division between
ecosystem types and disciplines is largely a human creation. Species and stressors
cross these borders and so should the scientists who study them.
Keywords
multiple stressors; global change factors; multiple drivers; synergism; antagonism; combined effects
Full Citation
Orr JA et al. 2020 Towards a unified study of multiple stressors: divisions and common goals across research disciplines. Proc. R. Soc. B 287: 20200421. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.0421
Access Full Text
Back
DMX3739300000