The fields of ecology and conservation have evolved rapidly over the past century. Synthesizing larger trends in these disciplines remains a challenge yet is critical to bridging subdisciplines, guiding research, and informing educational frameworks. Here, we provide what we believe is the largest full-text culturomic analysis of ecology and conservation journals, covering 80 years, 52 journals, and half a billion words. Our analysis illuminates the boom-and-bust of ecological hypotheses and theories; the adoption of statistical, genetic, and social-science approaches; and the domination of terms that have emerged in recent decades (eg climate change, invasive species, ecosystem services, meta-analysis, and supplementary material, which largely replaced unpublished data). We track the evolution of ecology from a largely descriptive field focused on natural history and observational studies to a more data-driven, multidisciplinary field focused on applied environmental issues. Overall, our analysis highlights the increasing breadth of the field, illustrating that there is room for more diversity of ecologists and conservationists today than ever before.

中文翻译：

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八十年来生态和保护的趋势

在过去的一个世纪里，生态学和保护领域发展迅速。综合这些学科的更大趋势仍然是一个挑战，但对于弥合子学科、指导研究和为教育框架提供信息至关重要。在这里，我们提供我们认为是最大的生态和保护期刊全文文化分析，涵盖 80 年、52 种期刊和 50 亿字。我们的分析阐明了生态假说和理论的兴衰；采用统计、遗传和社会科学方法；以及近几十年来出现的术语的主导地位（例如气候变化、入侵物种、生态系统服务、荟萃分析和补充材料，在很大程度上取代了未发表的数据）。我们追踪生态学的演变，从一个主要侧重于自然历史和观察研究的描述性领域到一个侧重于应用环境问题的数据驱动的多学科领域。总体而言，我们的分析突出了该领域日益扩大的广度，表明当今生态学家和保护主义者的多样性比以往任何时候都多。