RESEARCH FIELD

Macroecology

Macroecology examines patterns and processes in the distribution, abundance, and diversity of organisms at large spatial scales — from continental to global — and over long time frames. Rather than focusing on the dynamics of individual populations or communities, macroecologists seek statistical regularities and mechanistic explanations for phenomena such as latitudinal gradients in species richness, the species-area relationship, body-size distributions, and the metabolic scaling of ecological rates with body mass. The metabolic theory of ecology predicts ecological quantities from fundamental metabolic constraints. Key research areas include climate-driven range shifts and phenological mismatches, extinction risk modelling, macroevolutionary diversification rates, and the detection of anthropogenic biodiversity change using global datasets. Data come from museum collections, citizen science platforms, satellite remote sensing, and compiled global databases including GBIF, the IUCN Red List, and BioTIME. Funding sources include national science foundations, conservation biology institutes, and the European Biodiversity Partnership.