Explore science by method, field &amp; evidence.

Beta Diversity Partitioning

Beta diversity partitioning quantifies how species composition differs among sites, decomposing community dissimilarity into two components: species turnover (replacement of species across sites) and nestedness (loss of species from species-rich sites). Developed by Baselga (2010), this framework reveals whether sites

3 sources2010

Bioaccumulation Model

Bioaccumulation models predict how chemical contaminants accumulate in organisms from environmental exposure (water, food, sediment). Developed by Gobas and colleagues (2006), these models quantify the kinetics of chemical uptake, metabolism, and clearance. Bioaccumulation factors (BAF) and bioconcentration factors (BC

3 sources2006

Carbon Accounting

Carbon accounting is a systematic process-pipeline method for identifying, quantifying, and reporting an organization's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in CO₂-equivalent units. Codified by the WRI/WBCSD Greenhouse Gas Protocol in 2004, it is used by corporations, governments, and NGOs to measure their climate impact, se

1 source2004

Change Detection

Change detection is a remote sensing analysis pipeline that identifies differences in land cover or land use between two or more images acquired at different times over the same geographic area. Systematically reviewed and classified by Ashbindu Singh in 1989, the framework encompasses image differencing, post-classifi

1 source1989

Circuitscape

Circuitscape, developed by Brad McRae (2008), applies circuit theory from electrical engineering to predict organism movement and genetic connectivity across landscapes. The method treats landscapes as electrical networks where habitat quality is resistance and organism movement is electrical current. By analogy, organ

3 sources2008

Deep Remote Sensing

Deep Learning for Remote Sensing Image Segmentation applies convolutional neural networks and encoder-decoder architectures to automatically classify and delineate objects in satellite or aerial imagery at the pixel level. Systematically reviewed by Zhu et al. (2017) in IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine, this

1 source2017

Distance Sampling

Distance sampling is a statistical method for estimating population abundance from data on distances between observers and detected individuals. Developed by Buckland and colleagues (1993) and formalized in the software Distance, this approach accounts for imperfect detection: animals far from an observer are less like

3 sources1993

DPSIR Framework

The DPSIR Framework (Driving force, Pressure, State, Impact, Response) is a diagnostic and policy tool developed by the OECD (1993) and refined by the European Environment Agency (1999) to structure environmental and sustainability problems. It organizes causal relationships from economic activity through to policy int

3 sources1993

Ecological Footprint

Ecological Footprint Accounting (EFA) is a resource accounting framework that measures how much biologically productive land and water area a human population requires to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates. Introduced by Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees in 1996, it compares human

1 source1996

Ecosystem Services Valuation

Ecosystem Services Valuation (ESV) is a framework pioneered by Costanza and colleagues (1997) that assigns economic value to the benefits nature provides to humanity—from pollination and water purification to climate regulation and cultural enjoyment. Formalized in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) and The Eco

3 sources1997

eDNA Metabarcoding

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding detects and identifies species present in environmental samples (water, soil, air) by sequencing short DNA fragments released by organisms. Developed by Taberlet and colleagues (2012), this approach has revolutionized biodiversity monitoring: species can be surveyed without captur

3 sources2012

Emergy Analysis

Emergy Analysis, developed by systems ecologist Howard T. Odum and formally presented in his 1996 book, is a biophysical accounting method that converts all inputs to a system — energy, materials, labor, and services — into a common unit of solar energy equivalents called solar emjoules (sej). By tracing how much prior

1 source1996

Exergy Analysis

Exergy analysis is a thermodynamic method that quantifies the maximum useful work obtainable from an energy carrier relative to a reference dead state, revealing where and how irreversibilities destroy quality energy. Formally linked to sustainable development by Marc Rosen and Ibrahim Dincer in 2001, it extends the fi

1 source2001

Faith's Phylogenetic Diversity

Faith's Phylogenetic Diversity (PD), introduced by David Faith (1992), measures the evolutionary diversity within a community by summing the branch lengths of a phylogenetic tree connecting all species. Unlike species richness, which counts species equally regardless of evolutionary relationships, PD weights species by

3 sources1992

Food Web Topology

Food web topology analysis characterizes the structure of predator-prey interactions within ecological communities using network metrics. Pioneered by Williams and Martinez (2000) and extended by Dunne and colleagues (2002), this approach maps which species eat which and quantifies network properties (connectivity, clu

3 sources2000

Functional Diversity

Functional diversity quantifies the range and abundance distribution of functional traits (morphology, physiology, behavior) among species in a community. Developed by Mouillot and colleagues (2008), functional diversity indices measure how different species are in their ecological roles and resource use strategies. Un

3 sources2008

Hyperspectral Unmixing

Hyperspectral unmixing is a signal processing technique that decomposes each pixel of a hyperspectral image into a collection of pure material spectra (endmembers) and their corresponding fractional abundances. Because sensor resolution often causes multiple land-cover types to co-occupy a single pixel, unmixing recove

1 source2002

Indicator Value

Indicator Value (IndVal) analysis, developed by Dufrene and Legendre (1997), identifies species that reliably indicate the presence of particular environmental conditions, habitat types, or community groups. The method quantifies the association between species and habitat, producing an indicator value that combines sp

3 sources1997

Input-Output Structural Decomposition Analysis

Input-Output Structural Decomposition Analysis (IO-SDA) is an economic-environmental accounting method rooted in Wassily Leontief's input-output framework. It decomposes changes in economic activity and associated environmental impacts (emissions, resource use) over time into components reflecting technological change,

3 sources1985

Integral Projection Model

Integral projection models (IPMs) are a class of structured population models that use continuous traits (size, age, height) to describe population dynamics. Introduced by Easterling and colleagues (2000) and developed extensively by Ellner, Rees, and collaborators, IPMs overcome limitations of age- or stage-structured

3 sources2000

Leslie Matrix

The Leslie matrix is a deterministic model of age-structured population dynamics, introduced by Patrick Leslie (1945). It projects population size and structure forward in time using age-specific fertility and survival rates. A Leslie matrix encodes these vital rates in a square matrix; multiplying the matrix by a popu

3 sources1945

LiDAR Analysis

LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) Point-Cloud Analysis is an active remote sensing technique that measures distances by emitting laser pulses and recording the time for returns to reach the sensor. First systematically applied to ecosystem science by Lefsky, Cohen, Parker, and Harding in 2002, LiDAR produces dense th

1 source2002

Life Cycle Assessment

Life Cycle Assessment is a systematic, ISO-standardized methodology for quantifying the environmental impacts of a product, process, or service across its entire life span — from raw material extraction through production, use, and end-of-life disposal. Codified in ISO 14040 and ISO 14044, and comprehensively reviewed

1 source2009

Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment

Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) is a comprehensive framework developed by Matthias Finkbeiner and colleagues to evaluate environmental, social, and economic impacts of products and services throughout their entire life cycle. Introduced around 2008, it extends traditional life cycle assessment to address su

3 sources2008

LMDI Decomposition

Log-Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) Decomposition is a quantitative technique for attributing changes in an aggregate indicator — most commonly energy consumption or CO₂ emissions — to its underlying driving factors, such as activity level, structural mix, and intensity. Introduced in its definitive practical form by B. W. A

1 source2005

Material Flow Analysis

Material Flow Analysis (MFA) is a systematic method for quantifying the flows and stocks of materials within a defined system boundary over a specified time period. Introduced comprehensively by Paul H. Brunner and Helmut Rechberger in their 2004 handbook, MFA applies mass-balance principles to track how raw materials,

1 source2004

Metabolic Theory of Ecology

The Metabolic Theory of Ecology (MTE), developed by Brown and colleagues (2004), provides a unifying framework linking individual metabolic rate to ecological patterns across levels of organization (organisms, populations, ecosystems). MTE predicts how metabolic rate scales with body size (allometry) and temperature, a

3 sources2004

Niche Modeling

Niche modeling, also called species distribution modeling (SDM), predicts the geographic range and habitat suitability of species using presence-only or presence-background occurrence data and environmental variables. MaxEnt (Maximum Entropy, Phillips et al. 2006) and GARP (Genetic Algorithm for Rule-set Prediction, St

3 sources1999

Object-Based Image Analysis

Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) is a remote sensing image processing paradigm that groups pixels into meaningful image objects before classification, rather than analysing each pixel independently. Formally articulated and consolidated by Thomas Blaschke in his landmark 2010 ISPRS review, OBIA draws on multiresoluti

1 source2010

Population Viability Analysis

Population Viability Analysis (PVA), introduced by Shaffer (1981), estimates the probability that a population will persist over a given time period under specified conditions. PVA combines demographic models (Leslie matrices, IPMs) with stochastic simulation to project population trajectories, quantifying extinction r

3 sources1981

SAR Image Analysis

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Image Analysis is an active microwave remote sensing pipeline that processes complex-valued radar backscatter data to characterize land cover, surface roughness, moisture, and structural properties. Foundational treatment was consolidated by Jong-Sen Lee and Eric Pottier in their 2009 CRC

1 source2009

Species Accumulation

Species accumulation curves describe how the number of observed species increases with cumulative sampling effort. Introduced by Sanders (1968) and developed by Colwell and colleagues, this method enables ecologists to compare biodiversity across sites and estimate total species richness despite incomplete sampling. It

3 sources1968