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Abstract
There is an apparent gap between the prominence of present theoretical frameworks
involving ecological thresholds and regime shifts, and the paucity of efforts to conduct
simple tests and quantitative inferences on the actual appearance of such phenomena
in ecological data. A wide range of statistical methods and analytical techniques
are now available that render these questions tractable, some of them even dating
back half a century. Yet, their application has been sparse and confined within a
narrow subset of cases of ecological regime shifts. Our objective is to raise awareness
on the range of techniques available, and to their principles and limitations, to
promote a more operational approach to the identification of ecological thresholds
and regime shifts.