Pitfalls in quantifying species turnover: the residency effect
<p class="Body1">The composition of ecological communities changes continuously through time and space. Understanding this turnover in species composition is a central goal in biogeography, but quantifying species turnover can be problematic. Here, I describe an underappreciated sour...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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International Biogeography Society
2014-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers of Biogeography |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://escholarship.org/uc/item/3rf8t1x8 |
| _version_ | 1811265547668553728 |
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| author | Kevin Chase Burns |
| author_facet | Kevin Chase Burns |
| author_sort | Kevin Chase Burns |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p class="Body1">The composition of ecological communities changes continuously through time and space. Understanding this turnover in species composition is a central goal in biogeography, but quantifying species turnover can be problematic. Here, I describe an underappreciated source of bias in quantifying species turnover, namely ‘the residency effect’, which occurs when the contiguous distributions of species across sampling domains are small relative to census intervals. I present the results of a simulation model that illustrates the problem theoretically and then I demonstrate the problem empirically using a long-term dataset of plant species turnover on islands. Results from both exercises indicate that empirical estimates of species turnover may be susceptible to significant observer bias, which may potentially cloud a better understanding of how the composition of ecological communities changes through time.</p><br /><!--?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /--> |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T20:24:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-11e32beaa89e412184a458edbe29dcfb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1948-6596 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T20:24:41Z |
| publishDate | 2014-03-01 |
| publisher | International Biogeography Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers of Biogeography |
| spelling | doaj.art-11e32beaa89e412184a458edbe29dcfb2022-12-22T03:17:53ZengInternational Biogeography SocietyFrontiers of Biogeography1948-65962014-03-0161ark:13030/qt3rf8t1x8Pitfalls in quantifying species turnover: the residency effectKevin Chase Burns0Victoria University of Wellington<p class="Body1">The composition of ecological communities changes continuously through time and space. Understanding this turnover in species composition is a central goal in biogeography, but quantifying species turnover can be problematic. Here, I describe an underappreciated source of bias in quantifying species turnover, namely ‘the residency effect’, which occurs when the contiguous distributions of species across sampling domains are small relative to census intervals. I present the results of a simulation model that illustrates the problem theoretically and then I demonstrate the problem empirically using a long-term dataset of plant species turnover on islands. Results from both exercises indicate that empirical estimates of species turnover may be susceptible to significant observer bias, which may potentially cloud a better understanding of how the composition of ecological communities changes through time.</p><br /><!--?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /-->http://escholarship.org/uc/item/3rf8t1x8Extinctionimmigrationisland biogeographymethodsplantssample bias |
| spellingShingle | Kevin Chase Burns Pitfalls in quantifying species turnover: the residency effect Frontiers of Biogeography Extinction immigration island biogeography methods plants sample bias |
| title | Pitfalls in quantifying species turnover: the residency effect |
| title_full | Pitfalls in quantifying species turnover: the residency effect |
| title_fullStr | Pitfalls in quantifying species turnover: the residency effect |
| title_full_unstemmed | Pitfalls in quantifying species turnover: the residency effect |
| title_short | Pitfalls in quantifying species turnover: the residency effect |
| title_sort | pitfalls in quantifying species turnover the residency effect |
| topic | Extinction immigration island biogeography methods plants sample bias |
| url | http://escholarship.org/uc/item/3rf8t1x8 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kevinchaseburns pitfallsinquantifyingspeciesturnovertheresidencyeffect |