Temporal dynamics in ecology: Closing the gaps between population and community-level
studies and its relations to ecosystems
Last Wednesday and Thursday, we attended the workshop organized by the project led by Felicia Miranda Fischer at the rural accommodation La Parreta, located in the beautiful surroundings of Villafranca del Cid (Castellón). We had the pleasure of hosting several researchers of great importance in the field of ecology.
Titled “Temporal dynamics in ecology: Closing the gaps between population and community-level studies and its relations to ecosystems,” the workshop aims to explore ways to integrate different approaches to temporal dynamics in ecology, ranging from the study of populations, communities, and ecosystems.
Temporal dynamics are inherent in almost all ecology studies, and it is crucial to specify these dynamics for each research line. With this in mind, each of the workshop participants has incorporated this temporal dynamic into their research.
As a result, and thanks to the diverse presentations from each attendee, we’ve learned how these temporal dynamics affect various ecological fields at different scales. We can observe them on a larger scale, such as in evolutionary processes and fire response, but also on smaller scales, such as phenological changes in plants in response to neighboring plants or even epigenetic changes passed down to subsequent generations.
In this workshop, we not only gained valuable insights into our colleagues’ research lines and how temporal dynamics impact each of these scales but also engaged in discussions about how we should bridge different scales. For instance, addressing the gap between population and community scales, often kept separate, proved to be a topic of fruitful discussion.
Finally, the workshop wasn’t solely about ecology talks and presentations. We also had time for recreational activities, allowing us to foster groundbreaking ideas, such as the fusion of ping pong and paddle sports into a single game we’ve aptly named ping-pong-paddle. That was a true revelation!