Measuring Biological Diversity

Helps the reader quantify and interpret patterns of ecological diversity, focusing on the measurement and estimation of species richness and abundance.

Klappentext This practical hands-on guide to describing, estimating, and understanding ecological diversity highlights advances in measurement with clear explanations of methodology. It pays particular attention to new techniques such as species richness estimation, application of measures of diversity to conservation and environmental management, and addressing sampling issues. The discussion spans issues such as the meaning of community in the context of ecological diversity, scales of diversity, and distribution of diversity amongst taxa, and includes examples of key methods helping people to understand the techniques and use available computer packages more effectively. Helps the reader quantify and interpret patterns of ecological diversity, focusing on the measurement and estimation of species richness and abundance. This book explores the concept of ecological diversity, bringing fresh perspectives to a field beset by contradictory views and advice.

Auteur

Anne E. Magurran is Professor of Ecology and Evolution at the University of St Andrews. She is interested in the measurement, evolution, and conservation of biological diversity. Her research is focused on the behavior and ecology of freshwater fish in the neotropics (the Brazilian Amazon, Trinidad, and Mexico) and in Britain.

Texte du rabat

This accessible and timely book provides a comprehensive overview of how to measure biodiversity. The diversity of life on earth inspires fundamental ecological questions concerning the abundance of species and their distribution over space and time. The rapid loss of this diversity, primarily due to the impact of humanity, makes the need for effective ways of measuring biological diversity more important than ever.

As the successor to the author's influential Ecological Diversity and its Measurement, this book has been completely rewritten to reflect the explosion of interest in biodiversity in the last fifteen years. The book highlights new developments, including innovative approaches to measuring taxonomic distinctness and estimating species richness, and evaluates these alongside traditional methods such as species abundance distributions, and diversity and evenness statistics.

Measuring Biological Diversity assumes no specialist mathematical knowledge and includes worked examples and links to web-based software. It will be essential reading for all students, researchers, and managers who need to measure biological diversity.

Contenu

1. Introduction: measurement of (biological) diversity.2. The commonness, and rarity, of species.3. How many species?.An index of diversity.Comparative studies of diversity.Diversity in space (and time).No prospect of an end.References.Worked Examples.Index