Science advances through synthesis and integration by identifying common processes and principles from disparate observations and highlighting the unity underlying diversity. This process is exemplified by advancements in astronomy and physics in the 17th century, when Tycho Brahe’s catalog of the positions of stars, moons, planets, and comets provided the empirical foundations for Kepler’s laws of planetary motion and Newton’s law of gravity. Brahe’s natural history of the Universe led to a theory of nature that continues to shape our view of the natural world. Ecology seems poised at a transition like that of 17th century physics: the achievement of a general theory of biodiversity based on first principles. As shown by Zaoli et al. (1) in PNAS, one of the interesting aspects of this theory is that it looks a lot more like physics, particularly statistical mechanics, than classic ecology.

中文翻译：

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通过适应性物质的统计机制整合宏观生态学

通过从不同的观察中识别出共同的过程和原理，并强调潜在的统一性，科学通过综合和整合而进步。17世纪天文学和物理学的进步就是这一过程的例证，当时第谷·布拉赫（Tycho Brahe）的恒星，卫星，行星和彗星位置目录为开普勒的行星运动定律和牛顿的重力定律提供了经验基础。布拉赫（Brahe）关于宇宙的自然历史导致了一种自然理论，这种理论继续塑造着我们对自然世界的看法。生态学似乎正处在一个类似于17世纪物理学的转变中：基于首要原则的生物多样性总论的实现。如Zaoli等人所示。（1）在PNAS中，该理论的有趣之处之一是它看起来更像是物理学，