Laws of nature and laws of ecology

We address the question of whether there are laws in ecology. Although there has been a great deal of recent interest in this topic, much of the relevant debate has been conducted under some common misconceptions about what laws of nature are. Once these misconceptions are cleared up, the case for e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oikos 2003-06, Vol.101 (3), p.649-653
Main Authors: Colyvan, M., Ginzburg, L. R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Allometry
Biology
Case law
Ecology
Ecophilosophy
Kinetic energy
Nature
Opinions
Physics
Planetary orbits
Population ecology
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Summary:We address the question of whether there are laws in ecology. Although there has been a great deal of recent interest in this topic, much of the relevant debate has been conducted under some common misconceptions about what laws of nature are. Once these misconceptions are cleared up, the case for ecology having laws is much stronger. Indeed, we suggest that the case for laws in ecology is no better or worse than the case for laws in physics.
ISSN:0030-1299
1600-0706
DOI:10.1034/j.1600-0706.2003.12349.x