A century of inertia in quantitative ecology education

Kay, William P., Marques, Tiago A., Fieberg, John R., Börger, Luca, Jordan, Crispin Y., Teicher, Camila, Riach, Anna C., Chadwick, Fergus J. and Sutherland, Chris S. 2026. A century of inertia in quantitative ecology education. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 10.1111/2041-210x.70405

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Abstract

Ecology has undergone a profound methodological transformation through the rapid growth in new technologies, data volume, statistical innovation and analytical sophistication. These developments create unprecedented opportunities for novel ecological insights, but have also magnified longstanding concerns about quantitative training, which persist despite more than a century of debate and repeated calls for reform. Here, we posit why, despite enduring and widespread agreement on educational goals, progress in quantitative ecology education has remained limited. We argue that limited progress reflects a mismatch between widely supported reforms and the conditions needed to implement them at scale. While discussions of quantitative education have often focused on curricular content—what ecologists should learn—progress is also shaped by pedagogical, interpersonal, institutional and disciplinary factors. We discuss these interconnected components and argue that their combined influence helps explain the inertia that continues to characterise quantitative ecology education. Building on this diagnosis, we offer an integrated vision for quantitative ecology education. We argue that durable quantitative literacy is best developed through inclusive, context-rich and people-centred pedagogies that address barriers to learning, support diverse learners and ensure that procedural competence is grounded in strong conceptual understanding. We further advocate for coordinated action from disciplinary leaders, stronger institutional support for educators and learners, recognition of heterogeneous cohorts as a pedagogical strength, greater interdisciplinary collaboration between ecologists and quantitative specialists, and a shift from expectations of universal fluency towards a model of distributed expertise underpinned by foundational quantitative literacy. As ecology evolves, the need for quantitative literacy is greater than ever. Progress will depend not simply on identifying what should be taught and how, but on addressing the broader conditions that constrain the pace and scale of implementation of widely supported educational aspirations. We argue that reframing persistent challenges as interconnected problems of implementation, rather than aspiration, will help in overcoming a century of inertia in quantitative ecology education.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Biosciences
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	2041-210X
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	17 September 2026
Date of Acceptance:	5 August 2026
Last Modified:	17 Sep 2026 10:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/189700

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