[ES] En tanto contin ´uen las actividades humanas que est´an perturbando el clima global, a la biota y a ecosistemas completos a tasas sin precedente, la ciencia de la ecolog´ıa debe proveer conocimiento realista. Nosotros proponemos que este conocimiento solo puede ser provisto bajo un enfoque de la ecolog´ıa de comunidades. En este ensayo proponemos un enfoque conceptual para la ecolog´ıa de comunidades de plantas considerando tanto procesos de biogeograf´ıa hist ´orica como de interacciones bi ´ oticas, discutiendo la forma c´omo ambos componentes evolucionan como respuesta de su interrelaci ´on. Dada la abrumadora complejidad de m´ ultiples procesos ecol´ogicos necesitamos entender de manera integral los procesos que gobiernan la organizaci´on de las comunidades para ser capaces de encarar la sexta mayor extinci ´on de especies en la historia de la vida y poder transitar a pr´acticas sustentables en los ecosistemas.

[EN] As long as human activities have continued to disturb Earth’s climate, biota, and entire ecosystems at unprecedented rates, the science of ecology needs to provide realistic knowledge. We propose that this knowledge can only be provided under a community ecology approach. In this essay we propose a conceptual framework for plant community ecology considering both historical biogeographical processes and biotic interactions, and discuss the ways in which these two components evolve in mutual response to each other. Given the overwhelming complexity of multiple ecological processes we need to understand general patterns governing the assembly of communities to be able to face the sixth major extinction in the history of life and to transit towards sustainable practices in ecosystems.

This work was funded by DGAPA-UNAM (Project IN-213414-3), and CYTED (Acci´on 409AC0369). AMN was supported by a DGAPA-UNAM postdoctoral fellowship and an Early Career Project Grant from the BES (3975-4849).

Peer Reviewed