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Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology

College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Publications

Species richness

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Measurement Of Biodiversity (Mob): A Method To Separate The Scale-Dependent Effects Of Species Abundance Distribution, Density, And Aggregation On Diversity Change, Daniel J. Mcglinn, Xiao Xiao, Felix May, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Thore Engel, Shane A. Blowes, Tiffany M. Knight, Oliver Purschke, Jonathan M. Chase, Brian J. Mcgill Feb 2019

Measurement Of Biodiversity (Mob): A Method To Separate The Scale-Dependent Effects Of Species Abundance Distribution, Density, And Aggregation On Diversity Change, Daniel J. Mcglinn, Xiao Xiao, Felix May, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Thore Engel, Shane A. Blowes, Tiffany M. Knight, Oliver Purschke, Jonathan M. Chase, Brian J. Mcgill

College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Publications

Little consensus has emerged regarding how proximate and ultimate drivers such as productivity, disturbance and temperature may affect species richness and other aspects of biodiversity. Part of the confusion is that most studies examine species richness at a single spatial scale and ignore how the underlying components of species richness can vary with spatial scale. We provide an approach for the measurement of biodiversity that decomposes changes in species rarefaction curves into proximate components attributed to: (a) the species abundance distribution, (b) density of individuals and (c) the spatial arrangement of individuals. We decompose species richness by comparing spatial and …


Estimates Of Local Biodiversity Change Over Time Stand Up To Scrutiny, Mark Vellend, Maria Dornelas, Lander Baeten, Robin Beauséjour, Carissa D. Brown, Pieter De Frenne, Sarah C. Elmendorf, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Faye Moyes, Isla H. Myers-Smith, Anne E. Magurran, Brian J. Mcgill, Hideyasu Shimadzu, Caya Sievers Feb 2017

Estimates Of Local Biodiversity Change Over Time Stand Up To Scrutiny, Mark Vellend, Maria Dornelas, Lander Baeten, Robin Beauséjour, Carissa D. Brown, Pieter De Frenne, Sarah C. Elmendorf, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Faye Moyes, Isla H. Myers-Smith, Anne E. Magurran, Brian J. Mcgill, Hideyasu Shimadzu, Caya Sievers

College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Publications

We present new data and analyses revealing fundamental flaws in a critique of two recent meta-analyses of local-scale temporal biodiversity change. First, the conclusion that short-term time series lead to biased estimates of long-term change was based on two errors in the simulations used to support it. Second, the conclusion of negative relationships between temporal biodiversity change and study duration was entirely dependent on unrealistic model assumptions, the use of a subset of data, and inclusion of one outlier data point in one study. Third, the finding of a decline in local biodiversity, after eliminating post-disturbance studies, is not robust …


Rarefaction And Extrapolation With Hill Numbers: A Framework For Sampling And Estimation In Species Diversity Studies, Anne Chao, Nicholas J. Gotelli, T. C. Hsieh, Elizabeth L. Sander, K. H. Ma, Robert K. Colwell, Aaron M. Ellison Feb 2014

Rarefaction And Extrapolation With Hill Numbers: A Framework For Sampling And Estimation In Species Diversity Studies, Anne Chao, Nicholas J. Gotelli, T. C. Hsieh, Elizabeth L. Sander, K. H. Ma, Robert K. Colwell, Aaron M. Ellison

College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Publications

Quantifying and assessing changes in biological diversity are central aspects of many ecological studies, yet accurate methods of estimating biological diversity from sampling data have been elusive. Hill numbers, or the effective number of species, are increasingly used to characterize the taxonomic, phylogenetic, or functional diversity of an assemblage. However, empirical estimates of Hill numbers, including species richness, tend to be an increasing function of sampling effort and, thus, tend to increase with sample completeness. Integrated curves based on sampling theory that smoothly link rarefaction (interpolation) and prediction (extrapolation) standardize samples on the basis of sample size or sample completeness …


Counting Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): Biodiversity Sampling And Statistical Analysis For Myrmecologists, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Aaron M. Ellison, Robert R. Dunn, Nathan J. Sanders May 2011

Counting Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): Biodiversity Sampling And Statistical Analysis For Myrmecologists, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Aaron M. Ellison, Robert R. Dunn, Nathan J. Sanders

College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Publications

Biodiversity sampling is labor intensive and is especially challenging for myrmecologists, because the sampling units (individual workers) do not correspond in a simple way to the natural units of diversity (individual nests). Because it is usually not possible to reach a sampling asymptote for ants, comparisons of species richness among collections have to be carefully standardized for the number of individuals and number of samples examined. Asymptotic estimators allow for extrapolation to an estimated asymptote of species richness, and rarefaction curves permit meaningful comparisons of samples by interpolating data to a standardized number of sampling units. Winkler sacks of leaf …