6.1 Curiosity drives science
Whilst the initiation of monitoring in the Girnock catchment resulted
from the need for scientific evidence to inform policy development for
salmon fisheries management, much subsequent research evolved
organically. The motivation for most of the research has been
curiosity-driven science by individual investigators and has usually
been galvanised by hypotheses arising from earlier observations at the
Girnock itself, often informed by prevailing “hot” questions in the
wider scientific community. The crucial importance of this motivation
for discovery science is often overlooked, but as with other long-term
sites (e.g. Rose, 2007; Peterken and Mountford, 2017), it is such
motivation for interdisciplinary science that drives the commitment
needed to procure funding, launch projects, manage research teams,
analyse data and then communicate the research in the scientific
literature or at national or international symposia (Burt and Thomson,
2020).