general framework for the distance-decay of similarity in ecological communities

Species spatial turnover, or β-diversity, induces a decay of community similarity with geographic distance known as the distance-decay relationship. Although this relationship is central to biodiversity and biogeography, its theoretical underpinnings remain poorly understood. Here, we develop a gene...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology letters 2008-09, Vol.11 (9), p.904-917
Main Authors: Morlon, Hélène, Chuyong, George, Condit, Richard, Hubbell, Stephen, Kenfack, David, Thomas, Duncan, Valencia, Renato, Green, Jessica L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal populations
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Beta-diversity
Biodiversity
Biogeography
Biological and medical sciences
distance-decay relationship
Ecology
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
environmental sciences & ecology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
General aspects. Techniques
Geography
Letter
Life Sciences
Methods and techniques (sampling, tagging, trapping, modelling...)
Models, Biological
Poisson Cluster Process
Poisson Distribution
Population Density
Population Dynamics
sampling biodiversity
spatial aggregation
spatial turnover
species-abundance distribution
species-area relationship
Sørensen index
Theory
Trees
Tropical Climate
tropical forests
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Summary:Species spatial turnover, or β-diversity, induces a decay of community similarity with geographic distance known as the distance-decay relationship. Although this relationship is central to biodiversity and biogeography, its theoretical underpinnings remain poorly understood. Here, we develop a general framework to describe how the distance-decay relationship is influenced by population aggregation and the landscape-scale species-abundance distribution. We utilize this general framework and data from three tropical forests to show that rare species have a weak influence on distance-decay curves, and that overall similarity and rates of decay are primarily influenced by species abundances and population aggregation respectively. We illustrate the utility of the framework by deriving an exact analytical expression of the distance-decay relationship when population aggregation is characterized by the Poisson Cluster Process. Our study provides a foundation for understanding the distance-decay relationship, and for predicting and testing patterns of beta-diversity under competing theories in ecology.
ISSN:1461-023X
1461-0248
DOI:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2008.01202.x