Abstract Seasonality is an important feature of essentially all natural systems but the consequences of seasonality have been vastly underappreciated. Early work emphasized the role of seasonality in driving cyclic population dynamics, but the consequences of seasonality for ecological processes are far broader. Yet, seasonality is often not explicitly included in either empirical or theoretical studies. Many aspects of ecological dynamics can only be understood when seasonality is included, ranging from the oscillations in the incidence of childhood diseases to the coexistence of species. Through several case studies, we outline what is now known about seasonality in an ecological context and set the stage for future efforts. We discuss various approaches and tools for incorporating seasonality in mathematical models. We argue, however, that these tools are still limited in scope and more easily-accessible approaches need to be developed.

中文翻译：

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生态学的季节性：理论进展与前景

摘要 季节性本质上是所有自然系统的一个重要特征，但季节性的后果却被大大低估了。早期的工作强调季节性在推动周期性人口动态方面的作用，但季节性对生态过程的影响要广泛得多。然而，季节性通常没有明确地包含在经验或理论研究中。生态动力学的许多方面只有在包含季节性时才能理解，从儿童疾病发病率的波动到物种的共存。通过几个案例研究，我们概述了目前已知的生态环境中的季节性，并为未来的努力奠定了基础。我们讨论了将季节性纳入数学模型的各种方法和工具。然而，我们认为，