Ecologists are spending less time in the field. That could be a problem.
There was a time when an ecologist’s education was not complete without the mud of a marsh on their boots or the scent of damp earth after a rainforest downpour. Increasingly, however, the discipline is moving indoors. A paper published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution by Masashi Soga and Kevin J. Gaston highlights a disconcerting trend: the decline of fieldwork in ecological research and education.
The concept of the “extinction of experience” has been used to describe the dwindling human connection with nature, often applied to the general public. But ecologists themselves are not immune. Across universities and research institutions, field-based studies are in retreat, giving way to remote sensing technologies, laboratory analysis, and large-scale data synthesis. The consequences of this shift, while not yet fully understood, could be far-reaching.
The decline is driven by a confluence of factors. Financial constraints and time pressures increasingly deter lengthy field excursions, particularly for researchers juggling academic careers with family responsibilities. Institutions, particularly those in urban settings, struggle to provide students with access to wild environments. Meanwhile, concerns over carbon footprints discourage long-distance field campaigns. The rise of sophisticated ecological monitoring tools—unmanned aerial vehicles, camera traps, and environmental DNA sampling—further reduces the perceived necessity of direct observation.
These shifts are not without their advantages. Remote monitoring technologies allow for non-invasive, large-scale data collection, often at a fraction of the cost and effort of traditional fieldwork. The ability to analyze vast datasets has enriched ecological research, uncovering patterns that might have been imperceptible through site-specific studies. Moreover, a reduction in helicopter science—where researchers from wealthier nations conduct studies in developing countries with minimal local collaboration—addresses long-standing ethical concerns.
Yet something is lost when ecology becomes detached from the environments it seeks to understand. Scientific progress in fields such as behavioral ecology and biodiversity monitoring relies on direct, immersive study. Without field experience, researchers risk misinterpreting data or missing subtle ecological interactions. A decline in fieldwork also weakens the transmission of ecological knowledge to students, many of whom develop their passion for conservation through firsthand encounters with nature.
As Soga and Gaston suggest, balance is needed. Modeling and data analysis are essential tools, but they cannot fully replace fieldwork’s role in ecological discovery and education. If the discipline moves too far from the ecosystems it seeks to protect, it may lose something more fundamental than data: Its connection to the natural world itself.
CITATION: Masashi Soga and Kevin J. Gaston (2025). Trends in Ecology & Evolution. DOI:10.1016/j.tree.2024.12.010
