Theory, Statistics, and Software for the Additive Partitioning of Species Diversity Across Multiple Scales

Miami University, Oxford OH

Investigators

Abstract

This study will develop the theoretical basis, the statistical methods, and the computer software needed to partition biodiversity across habitats, landscapes and regions. As human activities continue to influence biodiversity, there is a need to assess how species diversity differs among natural and human-altered habitats, landscapes, and regions. The proposed research will develop older species diversity concepts in novel ways by providing a new analytical and statistical framework for understanding patterns of species diversity across multiple scales. A comprehensive software program (PARTITION) will be developed to calculate species diversity partitions from field data. Ecological patterns in species diversity and in species traits will next be used to suggest explanations for, and to predict, different kinds of diversity partitions. Finally, several data sets will be analyzed using these methods to demonstrate the usefulness of diversity partitioning to theoretical and applied ecological problems. There are several broader impacts of this research. It will provide a much needed software package to ecologists, conservation biologists and research managers who make daily decisions to conserve species diversity. From a theoretical perspective, it will enhance our basic understanding of species diversity. The study will train students in the theory and the measurement of species diversity, along with statistical analyses and management of diversity databases. This training will advance undergraduate teaching at the interface of theoretical and applied ecology. Finally, the results from this study will provide a standard measure of how diversity is partitioned across landscapes, to prevent loss of biodiversity in the face of global environmental change.