AEDT: A new concept for ecological dynamics in the ever-changing world

The important concept of equilibrium has always been controversial in ecology,but a new,more general concept,an asymptotic environmentally determined trajectory (aedt),overcomes many concerns with equilibrium by realistically incorporating long-term climate change while retaining much of the predictive power of a stable equilibrium. a population or ecological community is predicted to approach its aedt,which is a function of time reflecting environmental history and biology. the aedt invokes familiar questions and predictions but in a more realistic context in which consideration of past environments and a future changing profoundly due to human influence becomes possible. strong applications are also predicted in population genetics,evolution,earth sciences,and economics. © 2017 peter chesson.