Papers from the Second Cary Conference held in Millbrook, New York on May 13, 1987. Includes bibliographical references and index.

Importance and justification of long-term studies in ecology / Jerry F. Franklin -- Objective and experiment in long-term research / L. Roy Taylor -- Retrospective studies / Margaret Bryan Davis -- The role of ecological models in long-term ecological studies / Herman H. Shugart -- Space-for-time substitution as an alternative to long-term studies / Steward T.A. Pickett -- Ecological experimentation : strengths and conceptual problems / David Tilman -- Additional views. Conditions and motivations for long-term ecological research : some notions from studies on salt marshes and elsewhere / Ivan Valiela ; Evaluating national parks as sites for long-term studies / David J. Parsons ; The value of long-term experiments : a personal view / A. Edward Johnston -- What questions, systems, or phenomena warrant long-term ecological study? / Michael L. Pace and Jonathan J. Cole -- How can the various approaches to studying long-term ecological phenomena be integrated to maximize understanding? / Nina M. Caraco and Gary M. Lovett -- What are the difficulties in establishing and interpreting the results from a long-term manipulation? / John S. Eaton and Mark J. McDonnell -- How far in space and time can the results from a single long-term study be extrapolated? / Alan R. Berkowitz, Jerzy Kolasa, Robert H. Peters, and Steward T.A. Pickett -- Are currently available statistical methods adequate for long-term studies? / Geoffrey G. Parker -- How can we improve the reception of long-term studies in ecology? / Stuart E.G. Findlay and Clive G. Jones -- What are the tradeoffs between the immediacy of management needs and the longer process of scientific discovery? / Jay B. McAninch and David L. Strayer -- Concluding remarks / Gene E. Likens.