The critical value of long-term field studies and datasets: an editorial perspective

ABSTRACT The 2016 annual forum of the Royal Zoological Society of NSW was entitled: “The critical value of long-term field studies and datasets”. As Charley Krebs and co-authors comment in their paper, if there is one overall limitation on our ecological understanding, it is that our generalizations depend too much on short-term studies. All the authors in this theme edition of the Australian Zoologist identify the key reasons why long-term studies and datasets are important. David Lindenmayer states that long-term ecological research and monitoring studies are critical to tracking the state of the environment, assessing the effectiveness of management interventions, and informing policy and practices. White and Travers, in their 38-year study of the changes in frog communities in response to sand mining, conclude that the impact of mining does not disappear as a result of rehabilitation work, no matter how good it is. Brad Law takes another tack, noting long-term research on Australian bats as being glar...