Where are all the field studies? This ⬇️ important but rather depressing paper describes how conducting, & crucially initiating, field studies is becoming harder & rarer. A short 🧵 (and a call for more fieldwork) www.cell.com/trends/ecolo... - ThreadSky

pec-exeter.bsky.social • 44 days ago

Where are all the field studies?

This ⬇️ important but rather depressing paper describes how conducting, & crucially initiating, field studies is becoming harder & rarer.

A short 🧵 (and a call for more fieldwork)
https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/fulltext/S0169-5347(24)00318-5

Comments

gsegelbacher.bsky.social•24 days ago

some true points there...

andrew-antdude.bsky.social•41 days ago

From the POV of a young scientist still working on his PhD, it looks much harder to enter the field of ecology. I love fieldwork, but when it comes to job opportunities and how often you can publish, natural history and ecology seem to have a harder time compared with other biological disciplines

supernovalabs.co.uk•43 days ago

if you're in ecology and don't go outside often you're in for a bad time.

klilsh.bsky.social•43 days ago

📌

pec-exeter.bsky.social•44 days ago

A poverty of natural history experience stifles hypothesis generation. My best ideas arose from simply watching birds

Eventually, there'll just be a few long-running, well-funded sites, limiting our knowledge to "model" systems. All of wildlife becomes a great tit, a guppy, a meerkat or a chimp

pec-exeter.bsky.social•44 days ago

I understand that fieldwork is risky. I reckon I've spent >2 years of my life in the field generating NO usable data due to 🔥🌋⛈️ predators or "weird" conditions, but I've learned much

I understand that fieldwork is costly (money/carbon), but it can also be cheap, on your back door/local river/woods

pec-exeter.bsky.social•44 days ago

How do we increase fieldwork? Maybe if you're reviewing grants, recognise the value of natural systems. If you're reviewing papers, accept that reduced rigor due to field conditions is a price worth paying. If you're overseeing H&S, accept some risk. If you're teaching, take the students outside!

wascherclaudia.bsky.social•44 days ago

could not agree more! Grant reviewers have a crucial role, please be practical rather than perfectionist. In terms of H&S I think it is about appropriately assessing and mitigating risks! We need to be prepared for things happening in the field and trained to deal appropriately.

pec-exeter.bsky.social•44 days ago

Fieldwork may not be for everyone, but let's try to remove barriers for those who want to conduct it, and encourage it!

For those who want to learn or remember (fondly or with horror) what fieldwork can be like, I recommend this book

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ive-Been-Gone-Far-Long/dp/1571430547

pec-exeter.bsky.social•44 days ago

And with exquisite timing, I leave the computer to drive home listening to this great program about Cynthia Moss's amazing Amboseli elephant study. A perfect example of why field studies matter

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002698h?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

anschmidtlebuhn.bsky.social•43 days ago

IMO the largest factor is outside of researchers' direct control, even if they are influential enough to be editors or to chair grant panels: it is becoming more and more time-consuming and difficult to get collecting and site access permits.

lzvolk.bsky.social•42 days ago

A wildlife biologist I worked with (NM) was in process of an online Master's ecology degree from uni up north. There were no field exercises or classes. I was horrified. My plant systematics final (U of Maine) was outside in winter with snowshoes (1983). Seems like they don't even go outside anymore

drbharrison.bsky.social•29 days ago

When I did my fieldwork-based PhD research on marine harpacticoids over 40 years ago there were already profs on my committee who felt I was wasting my time. It was impossible to get funding for postdoctoral research so I switched fields. Sad. 😢

laurarlabarge.bsky.social•43 days ago

Agree with everything here! I would love if we could think of more ways that we can properly value that time in nature in funding proposals - based on reviewer feedback I've received some clearly think it's an "extra" that should be limited.

cora9211.bsky.social•42 days ago

Here’s another loop - paywall - readership limited so scientific communication limited and doesn’t flow to those people like me who sneakily teach citizens principles of ecology in gardening classes.

lzvolk.bsky.social•42 days ago

I've learned over my last few decades in academia is that students don't know how to observe. Hence, don't realize the value of observation and it's connection with everything, including developing field study protocols. Applies for some young working ecologists/biologists, too.

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