Replicating research in ecology and evolution: feasibility, incentives, and the cost-benefit conundrum

Table 1 The different levels of study replication in relation to establishing validity and generality

Replication level	Testing validity	Scope of generality
Exact (close) replication	Excellent	Narrowly defined biological phenomenon limited to a population, strain, or locality
Partial replication	Good	Fairly narrowly defined biological phenomenon mostly limited to a population, strain, or locality
Conceptual replication	Poor	Species- or system-specific phenomenon, broadly defined
Quasi-replication (partial)	Poor	Narrowly defined biological phenomenon across species or system
Quasi-replication (conceptual)	Poor	Broadly defined biological phenomenon across species or systems