Quantitative training overhaul needed in ecology
16 September 2026
As ecology becomes increasingly data-driven, an overhaul of quantitative training is vital for research, according to an international study led by Cardiff University.
Ecologists are collecting more data than ever before, but many still lack confidence in the quantitative skills needed to make sense of it, according to a new paper.
The paper, A century of inertia in quantitative ecology education, aimed to explore why efforts to improve statistics and data analysis training in ecology have stalled for more than a century.
Lead author, Dr William Kay, Senior Lecturer in Statistics at Cardiff University’s School of Biosciences, said: “Ecology as a field has seen profound developments in its methods – with new technologies like environmental sensors, genomic sequencing, satellite monitoring, and citizen science projects expanding our ability to capture data about the world around us.
“As a result, quantitative skills have become more important than ever for understanding biodiversity loss, climate change, wildlife populations, and ecosystem health.
“Ecologists have been discussing the need for improved quantitative training for over a century, but progress towards achieving this has been limited.”
The international team, including researchers from six other universities (St Andrews, Lisbon, Minnesota, Swansea, Edinburgh, and Leeds) and the Serrapilheira institute in Brazil, suggest that progress has been held back by practical barriers that make educational reform difficult to implement at scale. They argue that quantitative ecology education is constrained by a combination of factors, including curricula that focus heavily on teaching statistical techniques rather than general concepts, student anxiety around mathematics and statistics, limited staff time and resources, declining opportunities for field-based learning, and treating ecology and statistics separately.
We believe that there are institutional and disciplinary barriers for quantitative training, including that educators who teach quantitative skills are rarely afforded sufficient time within the curriculum to develop the skills that ecologists need.
A shift away from teaching statistics as a collection of individual methods and towards developing deeper conceptual understanding was recommended in the paper. Students should also be taught how ecological data are generated, where uncertainty comes from, how models represent ecological processes, and how evidence supports scientific conclusions.
The research challenges the idea that all ecologists should become highly specialised quantitative experts. Instead, it advocates for a model of quantitative literacy in which all ecologists can understand data, communicate effectively with quantitative specialists, critically evaluate evidence, and recognise when additional expertise is required.
“When students study quantitative skills, they should be brought together from different disciplinary backgrounds – so that, for example, students enrolled on statistics degrees and those enrolled on biology degrees could both attend elements of quantitative training together,” added Dr Chris Sutherland, University of St Andrews.
Ecologists have always aspired for strong quantitative skills. The challenge now is in creating educational systems that make this achievable for all.
