Species abundance distributions: moving beyond single prediction theories to integration within an ecological framework

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75247/1/j.1461-0248.2007.01094.x.pd

The gambin model provides a superior fit to species abundance distributions with a single free parameter: Evidence, implementation and interpretation

cited By 9International audienceThe species abundance distribution (SAD) has been a central focus of community ecology for over fifty years, and is currently the subject of widespread renewed interest. The gambin model has recently been proposed as a model that provides a superior fit to commonly preferred SAD models. It has also been argued that the model's single parameter (α) presents a potentially informative ecological diversity metric, because it summarises the shape of the SAD in a single number. Despite this potential, few empirical tests of the model have been undertaken, perhaps because the necessary methods and software for fitting the model have not existed. Here, we derive a maximum likelihood method to fit the model, and use it to undertake a comprehensive comparative analysis of the fit of the gambin model. The functions and computational code to fit the model are incorporated in a newly developed free-to-download R package (gambin). We test the gambin model using a variety of datasets and compare the fit of the gambin model to fits obtained using the Poisson lognormal, logseries and zero-sum multinomial distributions. We found that gambin almost universally provided a better fit to the data and that the fit was consistent for a variety of sample grain sizes. We demonstrate how α can be used to differentiate intelligibly between community structures of Azorean arthropods sampled in different land use types. We conclude that gambin presents a flexible model capable of fitting a wide variety of observed SAD data, while providing a useful index of SAD form in its single fitted parameter. As such, gambin has wide potential applicability in the study of SADs, and ecology more generally. © 2014 The Authors

Efeitos da distância entre iscas nas estimativas de abundância e riqueza de formigas em uma floresta de terra-firme na Amazônia Central Effects of bait spacing on ant abundance and richness in one forest at Central Amazonia

Coletas com iscas são amplamente utilizadas para investigar a atividade de formigas de solo e vegetação e também podem ser empregadas para estimar o número de espécies e a abundância de formigas. Apesar de ser barata e fácil de implementar, a riqueza e abundância das formigas estimadas por iscas podem ser enviesadas por alguns fatores, como a distância entre iscas. Neste trabalho, avaliamos se a distância entre iscas altera as estimativas de abundância e riqueza de formigas e qual distância entre iscas resulta na melhor relação entre custo financeiro e número de espécies amostradas, objetivo da maioria dos relatórios de impacto ambiental. Amostramos 30 transectos de 100 m com distância entre iscas diferentes (2,5; 3,4; 5; 6,7; 10 e 20 m), distribuídos em uma área de 1 km² em uma floresta de terra-firme ao norte de Manaus. Independente da distância entre iscas, o número de espécies coletado a cada cinco iscas, foi aproximadamente 8, e a abundância média foi maior que 50 indivíduos. No entanto o número de espécies por isca foi maior em transectos com maior distância entre iscas. Transectos com distância entre iscas de 10 e 20 m, coletaram 50% mais espécies por isca que transectos com iscas distantes a 2,5 e 3,4 m entre si. Nossos resultados sugerem que nesta área, a amostragem mais eficiente desse método de coleta seria distribuir 450 iscas a cada 10 m ou 20 m no solo da floresta.<br>Baits are widely used to investigate the activity of terrestrial and arboreal ants, but also can be used to estimate the ant abundance and species richness. Despite the fact that baiting are cheap and easy to implement, many factors, such as the distance between baits, may influence the estimate of ant species richness and abundance. In this study, we evaluated the effects of bait spacing on abundance and the number of ant species. We also demonstrate which distance between baits showed the best relationship between costs and number of ant species sampled. We sampled 30 transects of 100 m with bait spacing ranging from 2.5 to 20 m, spread over 1 km² of a "terra-firme" forest situated at North of Manaus. The bait spacing did not affect the ant diversity estimative. Regardless bait spacing, the number of species collected every five baits was around 8, and the average abundance was approximately 50 individuals. However the number of species per bait was higher in transects with larger bait spacing. Transects with bait spacing of 10 m and 20 m, collected 50% more species than transects with baits placed 2.5 m and 3.4 m apart. Our results suggest that at this forest, the most efficient sampling design using only baits would be place 450 baits every 10 m or 20 m at the forest floo