"Inevitably under conventional positivist frameworks, the majority of the most pressing issues are ignored: non-linear dynamics, multi-stable states, multi-scale behavior, slow/fast variable dynamics on the systems side and adaptive change, surprise and inherent unpredictability on the policy side. As the Aussies say, the “science” in traditional ecology is typically quadratescience small scale, short term. For it is the only way to pretend that one can be certain. In essence the primary root to success under conventional science is to define a trivial question, use a replicated experimental protocol, and avoid type one error. I saw this vividly among the 60 editors of Conservation Ecology (a journal begun in 1997 that has come to be called Ecology and Society). Those who function at scales below a few meters or a few decades (from population genetics to quadrate ecology, population ecology and community ecology) tended to react to papers by wanting precise answers rather than interesting questions. They searched for what is wrong in a paper, rather than what might be relevant and novel. Their ignorance of the broad scientific literature, or even other areas of ecology and environmental science, was profound. Above that scale, the editors were just about the opposite. Their backgrounds were multidisciplinary with strong roots in one discipline, interests in both theory and practice that extended across large scale and cross scale systems.

CS Holling, quoted in:

Curtin, C. G., & Allen, T. F. H. (Eds.). (2018). Aggregation in Complex Systems. In Complex Ecology: Foundational Perspectives on Dynamic Approaches to Ecology and Conservation (pp. 10–147). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108235754.003

Holling was an ecologist and founder of ecological economics.