SOME METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES IN MACROECOLOGY

Recent years have seen the emergence of ''macroecology'' as a distinct research program in biology. It is concerned with geographical scale patterns in assemblage structure and, as such, of necessity relies hea vily on approaches that are nonexperimental and that depend on the ava ilability of reliable information for large numbers of species. This g ives nse to a particular set of analytical issues that need to be addr essed when conducting studies of macroecological patterns. In this art icle, ire draw attention to nine such issues that we consider to be of particular importance. Our aim is to aid the development of what we b elieve to be an important subject area by identifying some of the more common problems that may confound studies, as well as some of their s olutions.