A Framework for the Role of Time in Ecology

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the role of time in ecology. Generally speaking, time is considered as a conceptual axis, much like space, along which one can measure ecological events and their durations. In ecology, time also allows one to describe, ascribe rates to, and quantify differences in, for example, changes in abundance within and among populations of single species and interacting species. In such a framework, time is a measuring stick and half of the stage—the complementary half of which is space—upon which ecology plays out. Over the ensuing chapters, an argument will be constructed for the development of a framework for a novel way of thinking about time in ecology, using the study of phenology as an exemplar for doing so.