Contrasting diversity values: statistical inferences based on overlapping confidence intervals

Ecologists often contrast diversity (species richness and abundances) using tests for comparing means or indices. However, many popular software applications do not support performing standard inferential statistics for estimates of species richness and/or density. In this study we simulated the beh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2013-02, Vol.8 (2), p.e56794-e56794
Main Authors: MacGregor-Fors, Ian, Payton, Mark E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applications programs
Biodiversity
Biology
Computer Science
Computer Simulation
Confidence Intervals
Ecologists
Economic models
Engineering
Estimates
Freeware
Hypothesis testing
Mathematics
Models, Statistical
Normal distribution
Software
Species diversity
Species richness
Statistical analysis
Statistical tests
Technology application
Wildlife
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Summary:Ecologists often contrast diversity (species richness and abundances) using tests for comparing means or indices. However, many popular software applications do not support performing standard inferential statistics for estimates of species richness and/or density. In this study we simulated the behavior of asymmetric log-normal confidence intervals and determined an interval level that mimics statistical tests with P(α) = 0.05 when confidence intervals from two distributions do not overlap. Our results show that 84% confidence intervals robustly mimic 0.05 statistical tests for asymmetric confidence intervals, as has been demonstrated for symmetric ones in the past. Finally, we provide detailed user-guides for calculating 84% confidence intervals in two of the most robust and highly-used freeware related to diversity measurements for wildlife (i.e., EstimateS, Distance).
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0056794