Connecting Unifying Ideas with Bold Data Streams to Predict Change in Natural Systems

New and unifying ideas in ecology have the capacity to change how we predict and view the natural world. Considering currencies and processes as transactions of energy, matter, and information, or motifs of empirical patterns that are repeated across scales, can improve how we predict change in natural systems. Meanwhile, data streams by which we observe the natural world are rapidly increasing and becoming more available, altering the scale at which we are able to test theory. Testing predictions of nature within nature itself has the potential to make bold ideas compelling and influential, or to send them back to the drawing board. The 2026 Unifying Ecology GRC will focus on the connection between the theory of ecological change and mass observations in natural systems. We will seek discrepancies, dissenting opinions, and conflicting ideas especially when connecting across subdisciplines in our field to build a stronger and more predictive ecology.