Biodiversity Resolution: An Integrated Approach

Fifty years of ecological research have failed to achieve an integrated, quantitative analysis suitable for both marine and terrestrial biodiversity. We present a new approach that reconciles the interrelationship of the number of individuals and species with population structure. Sample size depend...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biodiversity letters 1996-03, Vol.3 (2), p.40-43
Main Authors: Buzas, Martin A., Hayek, Lee-Ann C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asymptotic value
Biodiversity
Biodiversity Research
Plant biodiversity
Population ecology
Ratios
Sample size
Series convergence
Species
Species diversity
Synecology
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Summary:Fifty years of ecological research have failed to achieve an integrated, quantitative analysis suitable for both marine and terrestrial biodiversity. We present a new approach that reconciles the interrelationship of the number of individuals and species with population structure. Sample size dependency, always the primary obstacle, here is recognized as the primary missing requirement for biodiversity analysis With this key, and a new decomposition formula, we solve the two historically intractable problems of (1) inability to separate species effects of richness and evenness within the same system, and (2) correlation of diversity measures and non-specificity of statistical distributions with sample size In addition to providing resolution for ecological investigations, this approach reveals ordered structure in inventory and monitoring situations, undetectable by any other approach. As an example, Bolivian and Guyanan trees are shown to exhibit uniquely distinct and heretofore unseen diversity patterns.
ISSN:0967-9952
DOI:10.2307/2999767