Macrosystems ecology uses data collected across large geographic regions to formulate answers and predictions to big issues, such as invasive species and climate change.

Patricia Soranno, a fisheries and wildlife professor and macrosystems ecology co-founder, said the sub-discipline is a more holistic way of studying ecological systems.

When observing similar systems across a large geographic region, the cause and effects of local issues become more apparent, Soranno said.

By defining macrosystems ecology, Soranno said it could connect scientists from across the country who are working on similar issues yet are unaware of each other.

“Putting a name to it helps bring the community of scientists who are studying the issues at this scale together,” Soranno said.

Third year fisheries and wildlife graduate student Emi Fergus said the approach provides a new way of addressing questions that traditional modes of ecology could miss.

“You are taking a step back and looking at things more holistically and trying to account for interactions and relations that would be harder to see at finer scales,” Fergus said.

The sub-discipline differs in scale from most ecological research — instead of studying five lakes, they’re studying 55,000, Soranno said.

This large-scale research requires interdisciplinary collaboration because of data and expertise.

“When you study continents, you start collecting heaps of data,” she said. “When you study continents, it’s not just ecologists, you need hydrologists, geologists — big interdisciplinary teams.”

Soranno said macrosystems ecology relies on collaboration with computer scientists to aid in collecting, managing, analyzing and modeling mass amounts of data.

Computer science and engineering professor Pang-ning Tan collaborated with Soranno on sorting big data, a task unfamiliar to many science disciplines.

“As we live in a more interconnected world, we’re receiving more data,” Tan said. “The need for tools that can scale up and efficiently process this data (is increasing).”