Surveying Natural Populations - Quantiative Tools for Assessing Biodiversity 2e

2. Auflage 2010
ISBN: 978-0-231-14620-3
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 616 Seiten, Format (B × H): 184 mm x 258 mm, Gewicht: 1636 g

Surveying Natural Populations is a user-friendly primer to the essential methodologies of quantitative field ecology or paleoecology. Combining the intuitive methods of the field researcher with the mathematical precision of the statistician, the volume determines, through real biodiversity and ecological examples, the necessary measures for a complete community assessment while clarifying the confusions between biological and statistical terminology. Focusing on underlying mathematical concepts, it describes how to complete incrementally a quantitative sampling of any recent or fossil population.

The first half of Surveying Natural Populations explains the fundamentals of ecological assessment. Employing a single data set throughout, initial chapters navigate such topics as estimating densities, relative abundance, occurrences, the determination of adequate sample sizes and field sampling schemes. The second half covers the newest advances in biodiversity measurement. Through the use of information mathematics and decomposition, the authors mathematically examine the relationship among a number of proposed diversity indices and discard inappropriate measures. What remains is a simple, all-encompassing system called SHE analysis, in which species density, richness, information, and evenness are all shown to be related explicitly. This biodiversity data is then integrated into a simple graphic, a plot called a biodiversitygram, which provides the researcher with a cohesive descriptive and inferential tool to assess any community's biodiversity.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hayek, Lee-Ann

Buzas, Martin

Fachgebiete

• Mathematik | Informatik Mathematik Numerik und Wissenschaftliches Rechnen Angewandte Mathematik, Mathematische Modelle
• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften
• Mathematik | Informatik Mathematik Numerik und Wissenschaftliches Rechnen Computeranwendungen in der Mathematik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

PrefaceAcknowledgments1. Introduction2. Density: Mean and Variance3. Normal and Sampling Distributions for Fieldwork4. Confidence Limits and Intervals for Density5. How Many Field Samples?6. Spatial Distribution: The Power Curve7. Field Sampling Schemes8. Species Proportions: Relative Abundances9. Species Distributions10. Regression: Occurrences and Density11. Species Occurrences12. Species Diversity: The Number of Species13. Biodiversity: Diversity Indices Using N and S14. Biodiversity: Diversity Measures Using Relative Abundances15. Biodiversity: Dominance and Evenness16. Biodiversity: Unifying Diversity and Evenness Measures with Canonical Equations 33717. Biodiversity: SHE Analysis as the Ultimate Unification Theory of Biodiversity with the Complete Biodiversitygram18. Biodiversity: SHE Analysis for Community Structure Identification, SHECSIAppendix 1: Number of Individuals per 100 m2 Quadrats of the Beni Biosphere Reserve Plot 01, N = 100Appendix 2: Number of Individuals per 400 m2 Quadrats of the Beni Biosphere Reserve Plot 01, N = 25Appendix 3: Table of Random NumbersAppendix 4: Values of the Log Series Parameter a for a Given Number of Individuals (N) and Species (S)Appendix 5: Subset of Bat Counts from VenezuelaAppendix 6: Answers to Chapter ProblemsReferencesIndex

Über Autor(innen)

Lee-Ann C. Hayek is chief mathematical statistician and senior research scientist of the Smithsonian Institution and a fellow of the American Statistical Association and the Royal Statistical Society. She is internationally known for her many publications in a wide variety of fields, including biodiversity assessment.

Martin A. Buzas is curator of benthic foraminifera and senior geologist in the Department of Paleobiology at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution. His research focuses on the quantitative understanding of the distribution of organisms in small and large amounts of space and time. A fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, The Paleontological Society, and the Cushman Foundation, he has received the Cushman Award and the Paleontological Society Medal, the field's most prestigious award.