75 years of dryland science: Trends and gaps in arid ecology literature

Growth in the publication of scientific articles is occurring at an exponential rate, prompting a growing need to synthesise information in a timely manner to combat urgent environmental problems and guide future research. Here, we undertake a topic analysis of dryland literature over the last 75 ye...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2017-04, Vol.12 (4), p.e0175014-e0175014
Main Authors: Greenville, Aaron C, Dickman, Chris R, Wardle, Glenda M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Analysis
Arid regions
Bibliometrics
Biodiversity
Biology and Life Sciences
Earth Sciences
Ecology
Ecology - trends
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Ecophysiology
Ecosystem
Ecosystems
Endangered & extinct species
Environmental aspects
Environmental science
Habitats
History
Paleoclimate
Paleoclimates
Plant ecology
Populations
Remote sensing
Researchers
Scientometrics
Studies
Trends
Wetlands
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Summary:Growth in the publication of scientific articles is occurring at an exponential rate, prompting a growing need to synthesise information in a timely manner to combat urgent environmental problems and guide future research. Here, we undertake a topic analysis of dryland literature over the last 75 years (8218 articles) to identify areas in arid ecology that are well studied and topics that are emerging. Four topics-wetlands, mammal ecology, litter decomposition and spatial modelling, were identified as 'hot topics' that showed higher than average growth in publications from 1940 to 2015. Five topics-remote sensing, climate, habitat and spatial, agriculture and soils-microbes, were identified as 'cold topics', with lower than average growth over the survey period, but higher than average numbers of publications. Topics in arid ecology clustered into seven broad groups on word-based similarity. These groups ranged from mammal ecology and population genetics, broad-scale management and ecosystem modelling, plant ecology, agriculture and ecophysiology, to populations and paleoclimate. These patterns may reflect trends in the field of ecology more broadly. We also identified two broad research gaps in arid ecology: population genetics, and habitat and spatial research. Collaborations between population genetics and ecologists and investigations of ecological processes across spatial scales would contribute profitably to the advancement of arid ecology and to ecology more broadly.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0175014