Power‐law species–area relationships and self‐similar species distributions within finite areas

Šizling, Arnošt L.; Storch, David

doi:10.1046/j.1461-0248.2003.00549.x

Cited by 103 publications

(139 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…This saturated region is routinely suggested to be excluded from the calculation of fractal dimensions (Halley et al, 2004) although such practice is not the best interest to many applications. From the practical point of view, it is also important to model the curvature as it is an inherent component of the data (Š izling & Storch, 2004).…”

Section: Msementioning

confidence: 99%

The distribution of species: occupancy, scale, and rarity

He¹,

Condit²

2007

Scaling Biodiversity

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Section: Msementioning

confidence: 99%

The distribution of species: occupancy, scale, and rarity

He¹,

Condit²

2007

Scaling Biodiversity

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“…The widely reported occurrence of this functional form is indicative of a very robust mechanism, transcending the specific details of organism interactions. Explanations for the occurrence of this power-law SAR focusing on abundance distributions (15,16), the allocation of individuals (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23), or population dynamics (24)(25)(26) have been proposed. Nonetheless, there remains no consensus as to the common occurrence of the power-law SAR itself nor the systematics of the SAR exponents z.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

On the origin and robustness of power-law species–area relationships in ecology

Martín¹,

Goldenfeld²

2006

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

102

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We present an explanation for the widely reported power-law species-area relationship (SAR), which relates the area occupied by a biome to the number of species that it supports. We argue that power-law SARs are a robust consequence of a skewed species abundance distribution resembling a lognormal with higher rarity, together with the observation that individuals of a given species tend to cluster. We show that the precise form of the SAR transcends the specific details of organism interactions, enabling us to characterize its broad trends across taxa.clustering ͉ lognormal T here are an estimated 5-10 million nonmicrobial species on earth (1). This estimate is based on the extrapolation of sampled data rather than on a thorough count. Understanding the spatial distribution of biodiversity is of practical importance, providing information regarding the probability of species extinction due to loss of habitat (2) and the design of reserves that can protect the greatest amount of biological diversity (3, 4). In addition, the spatial distribution of species is an important factor governing a wide range of key biological phenomena, including competition (5), division of niche space (6), and the effect of disturbances (7).One of the main tools for extrapolation is the species-area relationship (SAR), relating area, A, to the number of species it supports, S. Several functional forms have been demonstrated for the SAR (8-10), but the power-law form, in which the number of species is a constant power of the area S ϭ cA z , is most commonly cited (10, 11). This form is reported (3) for climates ranging from temperate to tropical and for such different organisms as plants, birds, insects, mammals, and fish; this functional dependence also was recently extended to bacteria (12) and microbial eukaryotes (13). The exponent z has been reported to depend on habitat, scale, and taxa (3), with values in the range 0.1-0.4 for plants and birds in island groups [the most frequent values being in the range 0.2-0.4 (14)], values near unity for intercontinental scales, and a value as small as 0.05 for microbes (12). The widely reported occurrence of this functional form is indicative of a very robust mechanism, transcending the specific details of organism interactions. Explanations for the occurrence of this power-law SAR focusing on abundance distributions (15, 16), the allocation of individuals (17-23), or population dynamics (24-26) have been proposed. Nonetheless, there remains no consensus as to the common occurrence of the power-law SAR itself nor the systematics of the SAR exponents z. Modern theoretical work assuming self-similarity (27) permits neither a calculation of the SAR exponent nor its variation across taxa. Thus, the key questions (11) are (i) why is the power-law relationship so commonly reported? and (ii) what factors account for the observed distribution of exponent values?In this paper, we show that the SAR of an ecosystem depends primarily on the distribution of mean minimum distances between conspecific indiv...

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“…We provide both the model r 2 value and partial r 2 values for each predictor, the latter being in square brackets. availability on the slope of SARs that is not a direct consequence of the species-energy relationship may arise through the influence of environmental energy on occupancy patterns as high occupancy results in a shallower SAR (Leitner andRosenzweig 1997, Šizling andStorch 2004). Indeed in the British avifauna high levels of environmental energy availability increases mean species occupancy, i.e., the average number of localities that each species occupies (Evans et al, unpublished manuscript).…”

Section: Figmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If species occupy only a few localities then SARs are steeper than if species were widely distributed such that, for example, if every species occupied all areas then the SAR would be flat (Leitner andRosenzweig 1997, Šizling andStorch 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Slopes of Avian Species-Area Relationships, Human Population Density, and Environmental Factors

Evans¹,

Lennon²,

Gaston³

2007

ACE

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2007. Slopes of avian species-area relationships, human population density, and environmental factors. Avian Conservation and Ecology -Écologie et conservation des oiseaux 2(2): 7.[online] URL: http://www.ace-eco.org/vol2/iss2/art7/ ABSTRACT. There is increasing interest in how humans influence spatial patterns in biodiversity. One of the most frequently noted and marked of these patterns is the increase in species richness with area, the species-area relationship (SAR). SARs are used for a number of conservation purposes, including predicting extinction rates, setting conservation targets, and identifying biodiversity hotspots. Such applications can be improved by a detailed understanding of the factors promoting spatial variation in the slope of SARs, which is currently the subject of a vigorous debate. Moreover, very few studies have considered the anthropogenic influences on the slopes of SARs; this is particularly surprising given that in much of the world areas with high human population density are typically those with a high number of species, which generates conservation conflicts. Here we determine correlates of spatial variation in the slopes of speciesarea relationships, using the British avifauna as a case study. Whilst we focus on human population density, a widely used index of human activities, we also take into account (1) the rate of increase in habitat heterogeneity with increasing area, which is frequently proposed to drive SARs, (2) environmental energy availability, which may influence SARs by affecting species occupancy patterns, and (3) species richness. We consider environmental variables measured at both local (10 km × 10 km) and regional (290 km × 290 km) spatial grains, but find that the former consistently provides a better fit to the data. In our case study, the effect of species richness on the slope SARs appears to be scale dependent, being negative at local scales but positive at regional scales. In univariate tests, the slope of the SAR correlates negatively with human population density and environmental energy availability, and positively with the rate of increase in habitat heterogeneity. We conducted two sets of multiple regression analyses, with and without species richness as a predictor. When species richness is included it exerts a dominant effect, but when it is excluded temperature has the dominant effect on the slope of the SAR, and the effects of other predictors are marginal. Research Papers Slopes of AvianRÉSUMÉ. Il existe un intérêt croissant à propos de l'influence que l'humain exerce sur les patrons spatiaux de la biodiversité. Un des patrons les plus importants et les plus fréquemment notés est l'augmentation de la richesse spécifique avec la superficie de l'habitat, soit la relation espèce-superficie (species-area relationship; SAR). Les SAR sont utilisées à diverses fins de conservation, telles la prédiction du taux d'extinction, la définition d'objectifs de conservation et l'identification de points chauds de biodiversité. De telles applications peuvent être...

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Power‐law species–area relationships and self‐similar species distributions within finite areas

Cited by 103 publications

References 32 publications

The distribution of species: occupancy, scale, and rarity

The distribution of species: occupancy, scale, and rarity

On the origin and robustness of power-law species–area relationships in ecology

Slopes of Avian Species-Area Relationships, Human Population Density, and Environmental Factors

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