Shopping for Ecological Indices? On the Use of Incidence-Based Species Compositional Similarity Measures
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Fecha
2022-05
Autores
Macgregor-Fors, Ian
Escobar, Federico
Escobar-Ibáñez, Juan F.
Mesa-Sierra, Natalia
Alvarado, Fredy
Rueda-Hernández, Rafael
Moreno, Claudia E.
Falfán, Ina
Corro, Erick J.
Pineda, Eduardo
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Editor
MDPI
Resumen
Descripción
β-diversity has been under continuous debate, with a current need to better understand
the way in which a new wave of measures work. We assessed the results of 12 incidence-based
β-diversity indices. Our results of gradual species composition overlap between paired assemblages
considering progressive differences in species richness show the following: (i) four indices (β-2, β-3,
β-3.s, and βr) should be used cautiously given that results with no shared species retrieve results
that could be misinterpreted; (ii) all measures conceived specifically as partitioned components of
species compositional dissimilarities ought to be used as such and not as independent measures
per se; (iii) the non-linear response of some indices to gradual species composition overlap should
be interpreted carefully, and further analysis using their results as dependent variables should
be performed cautiously; and (iv) two metrics (βsim and βsor) behave predictably and linearly to
gradual species composition overlap. We encourage ecologists using measures of β-diversity to fully
understand their mathematical nature and type of results under the scenario to be used in order to
avoid inappropriate and misleading inferences.
Palabras clave
beta diversity; nestedness; replacement; richness difference; species turnover, Beta Diversity, Nestedness, Replacement, Richness Difference, Species Turnover
Citación
MacGregor-Fors, I.; Escobar, F.; Escobar-Ibáñez, J. F.; Mesa-Sierra, N.; Alvarado, F.; Rueda-Hernández, R. & Dáttilo, W. (2022). Shopping for Ecological Indices? On the Use of Incidence-Based Species Compositional Similarity Measures. Diversity, 14(5), 384.