Article
Weighting effective number of species measures by abundance weakens detection of diversity responses
Journal of Applied Ecology
(2019)
Abstract
- The effective number of species (ENS) has been proposed as a robust measure of species diversity that overcomes several limitations in terms of both diversity indices and species richness (SR). However, it is not yet clear if ENS improves interpretation and comparison of biodiversity monitoring data, and ultimately resource management decisions.
- We used simulations of five stream macroinvertebrate assemblages and spatially extensive field data of stream fishes and mussels to show (a) how different ENS formulations respond to stress and (b) how diversity–environment relationships change with values of q, which weight ENS measures by species abundances.
- Values of ENS derived from whole simulated assemblages with all species weighted equally (true SR) steadily decreased as stress increased, and ENS‐stress relationships became weaker and more different among assemblages with increased weighting.
- The amount of variation in ENS across the fish and mussel assemblages that was associated with environmental gradients decreased with increasing q.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2019
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13345
Citation Information
Charles P Hawkins. "Weighting effective number of species measures by abundance weakens detection of diversity responses" Journal of Applied Ecology Vol. 56 Iss. 5 (2019) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/charles_hawkins/216/