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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Main Authors: Robert C Szava-Kovats, Meelis Pärtel
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4201547?pdf=render
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spelling 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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