Low R2 in ecology: Bitter, or B-side?

Low coefficient of determination (R2) is a basic source of the pains ubiquitous in ecology, since its emergences in assessing numerous ecological indicators often mean the bitter disasters. Our theoretical rethinking about it suggested that one of its key causes is the universal diversity of individual subjective adaptability, always combating with the ecological principle of pursuing generality. This inference inspired us to reversely reason that low R2 in ecology may mirror the B-side of this generality. With the diversity of individual subjective adaptability considered, we proposed two related B-sides – functional diversity and plant intelligence, and their case studies validated our reasoning. For seeking more B-sides, we devised exploratory analysis regression as the supportable methodological paradigm, for future study. Overall, when meeting low R2 in ecology, people should not just feel bitter but positively take advantage of it for expandingly making new cross-disciplinary discoveries. Our perspective, with philosophy conversion and paradigm innovation for converting low R2 from an assessor of ecological indicators to a novel ecological indicator, is of extensive implication on initiating new ecology-enlightened avenues for promoting many other fields.