Biodiversity patterns along ecological gradients: unifying β-diversity indices.
Ecologists have developed an abundance of conceptions and mathematical expressions to define β-diversity, the link between local (α) and regional-scale (γ) richness, in order to characterize patterns of biodiversity along ecological (i.e., spatial and environmental) gradients. These patterns are oft...
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doaj-74242ddce68f4cb2a0566d2fd88cfe1d2020-11-25T00:32:07ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032014-01-01910e11048510.1371/journal.pone.0110485Biodiversity patterns along ecological gradients: unifying β-diversity indices.Robert C Szava-KovatsMeelis PärtelEcologists have developed an abundance of conceptions and mathematical expressions to define β-diversity, the link between local (α) and regional-scale (γ) richness, in order to characterize patterns of biodiversity along ecological (i.e., spatial and environmental) gradients. These patterns are often realized by regression of β-diversity indices against one or more ecological gradients. This practice, however, is subject to two shortcomings that can undermine the validity of the biodiversity patterns. First, many β-diversity indices are constrained to range between fixed lower and upper limits. As such, regression analysis of β-diversity indices against ecological gradients can result in regression curves that extend beyond these mathematical constraints, thus creating an interpretational dilemma. Second, despite being a function of the same measured α- and γ-diversity, the resultant biodiversity pattern depends on the choice of β-diversity index. We propose a simple logistic transformation that rids beta-diversity indices of their mathematical constraints, thus eliminating the possibility of an uninterpretable regression curve. Moreover, this transformation results in identical biodiversity patterns for three commonly used classical beta-diversity indices. As a result, this transformation eliminates the difficulties of both shortcomings, while allowing the researcher to use whichever beta-diversity index deemed most appropriate. We believe this method can help unify the study of biodiversity patterns along ecological gradients.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4201547?pdf=render |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Robert C Szava-Kovats Meelis Pärtel |
spellingShingle |
Robert C Szava-Kovats Meelis Pärtel Biodiversity patterns along ecological gradients: unifying β-diversity indices. PLoS ONE |
author_facet |
Robert C Szava-Kovats Meelis Pärtel |
author_sort |
Robert C Szava-Kovats |
title |
Biodiversity patterns along ecological gradients: unifying β-diversity indices. |
title_short |
Biodiversity patterns along ecological gradients: unifying β-diversity indices. |
title_full |
Biodiversity patterns along ecological gradients: unifying β-diversity indices. |
title_fullStr |
Biodiversity patterns along ecological gradients: unifying β-diversity indices. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Biodiversity patterns along ecological gradients: unifying β-diversity indices. |
title_sort |
biodiversity patterns along ecological gradients: unifying β-diversity indices. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
series |
PLoS ONE |
issn |
1932-6203 |
publishDate |
2014-01-01 |
description |
Ecologists have developed an abundance of conceptions and mathematical expressions to define β-diversity, the link between local (α) and regional-scale (γ) richness, in order to characterize patterns of biodiversity along ecological (i.e., spatial and environmental) gradients. These patterns are often realized by regression of β-diversity indices against one or more ecological gradients. This practice, however, is subject to two shortcomings that can undermine the validity of the biodiversity patterns. First, many β-diversity indices are constrained to range between fixed lower and upper limits. As such, regression analysis of β-diversity indices against ecological gradients can result in regression curves that extend beyond these mathematical constraints, thus creating an interpretational dilemma. Second, despite being a function of the same measured α- and γ-diversity, the resultant biodiversity pattern depends on the choice of β-diversity index. We propose a simple logistic transformation that rids beta-diversity indices of their mathematical constraints, thus eliminating the possibility of an uninterpretable regression curve. Moreover, this transformation results in identical biodiversity patterns for three commonly used classical beta-diversity indices. As a result, this transformation eliminates the difficulties of both shortcomings, while allowing the researcher to use whichever beta-diversity index deemed most appropriate. We believe this method can help unify the study of biodiversity patterns along ecological gradients. |
url |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4201547?pdf=render |
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