The application of evolutionary and ecological principles to cancer prevention and treatment, as well as recognizing cancer as a selection force in nature, has gained impetus over the last 50 years. Following the initial theoretical approaches that combined knowledge from interdisciplinary fields, it became clear that using the eco‐evolutionary framework is of key importance to understand cancer. We are now at a pivotal point where accumulating evidence starts to steer the future directions of the discipline and allows us to underpin the key challenges that remain to be addressed. Here, we aim to assess current advancements in the field and to suggest future directions for research. First, we summarize cancer research areas that, so far, have assimilated ecological and evolutionary principles into their approaches and illustrate their key importance. Then, we assembled 33 experts and identified 84 key questions, organized around nine major themes, to pave the foundations for research to come. We highlight the urgent need for broadening the portfolio of research directions to stimulate novel approaches at the interface of oncology and ecological and evolutionary sciences. We conclude that progressive and efficient cross‐disciplinary collaborations that draw on the expertise of the fields of ecology, evolution and cancer are essential in order to efficiently address current and future questions about cancer.

中文翻译：

---

确定癌症生态学和进化中的关键问题

过去 50 年来，进化和生态原理在癌症预防和治疗中的应用以及将癌症视为自然界的选择力的认识得到了推动。遵循结合跨学科领域知识的初步理论方法，很明显，使用生态进化框架对于理解癌症至关重要。我们现在正处于一个关键时刻，不断积累的证据开始引导该学科的未来方向，并使我们能够支撑仍有待解决的关键挑战。在这里，我们的目标是评估该领域当前的进展并提出未来的研究方向。首先，我们总结了迄今为止已将生态和进化原理融入其方法的癌症研究领域，并说明了它们的重要性。然后，我们召集了 33 名专家，围绕 9 个主要主题确定了 84 个关键问题，为后续研究奠定了基础。我们强调迫切需要扩大研究方向组合，以激发肿瘤学与生态和进化科学交叉领域的新方法。我们的结论是，为了有效解决当前和未来的癌症问题，利用生态学、进化和癌症领域的专业知识进行渐进和有效的跨学科合作至关重要。