Dataset Information

A relationship between species richness and evenness that depends on specific relative abundance distribution.

ABSTRACT: Although many ecologists focus on the relationship between species richness (S) and evenness (E), conflicts between observation and theory are difficult to reconcile. Empirical S-E relationships were not consistent, while relationships show strong correlation between S and E. Since E essentially depended on the relative abundance distribution (RAD), the hypothesis of this paper was that the S-E relationship should be determined by RAD. Theoretical S-E relationships for various RADs have already been reported, but they were rarely assessed by the raw data. This study constructed S-E relationships for a specific RAD, which indicated that if the community had a fractal distribution of rank abundance, E would decrease with S, and the S-E relationship would be unique for a given RAD. Such theoretical expectations were supported by three datasets with 82 samples, which suggested that the S-E relationship were controlled by RAD and inconsistent S-E relationships in statistical analyses could be accounted for by the variation of underlying RAD model between communities. From the perspective of RAD, it could be too early to split the diversity into S and E only based on the S-E relationship in statistical analyses.

SUBMITTER: Su Q

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6003394 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

A relationship between species richness and evenness that depends on specific relative abundance distribution.

Su Qiang Q

PeerJ 20180612

Although many ecologists focus on the relationship between species richness (S) and evenness (E), conflicts between observation and theory are difficult to reconcile. Empirical S-E relationships were not consistent, while relationships show strong correlation between S and E. Since E essentially depended on the relative abundance distribution (RAD), the hypothesis of this paper was that the S-E relationship should be determined by RA ...[more]

PMID: 29910980

Similar Datasets

Project description:As a transitional vegetation type between evergreen broadleaved forest and deciduous broadleaved forest, evergreen-deciduous broadleaved mixed forest is composed of diverse plant species. This distinctive forest is generally distributed in mountainous areas with complex landforms and heterogeneous microenvironments. However, little is known about the roles of environmental conditions in driving the species diversity patterns of this forest. Here, based on a 15-ha plot in central China, we aimed to understand how and to what extent topographical characteristics and soil nutrients regulate the number and relative abundance of tree species in this forest. We measured environmental factors (terrain convexity, slope, soil total nitrogen, and phosphorus concentrations) and species diversity (species abundance distribution and species richness) in 20 m × 20 m subplots. Species abundance distribution was characterized by skewness, Berger-Parker index, and the proportion of singletons. The generalized additive model was used to examine the variations in diversity patterns caused by environmental factors. The structural equation model was used to assess whether and how topographical characteristics regulate species diversity via soil nutrients. We found that soil nutrients had significant negative effects on species richness and positive effects on all metrics of species abundance distribution. Convexity had significant positive effects on species richness and negative effects on all metrics of species abundance distribution, but these effects were mostly mediated by soil nutrients. Slope had significant negative effects on skewness and the Berger-Parker index, and these effects were almost independent of soil nutrients. Soil nutrients and topographical characteristics together accounted for 9.5-17.1% of variations in diversity patterns and, respectively, accounted for 8.9-13.9% and 3.3-10.7% of the variations. We concluded that soil nutrients were more important than topographical factors in regulating species diversity. Increased soil nutrient concentration led to decreased taxonomic diversity and increased species dominance and rarity. Convexity could be a better proxy for soil nutrients than slope. Moreover, these abiotic factors played limited roles in regulating diversity patterns, and it is possible that the observed patterns are also driven by some biotic and abiotic factors not considered here.

Dataset Information

A relationship between species richness and evenness that depends on specific relative abundance distribution.

Publications

A relationship between species richness and evenness that depends on specific relative abundance distribution.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets