Something to do with community structure : the influence of sampling and analysis on measures of community structure : a thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Diversity indices confound two components: species richness and evenness. Community structure should therefore be evaluated by employing separate measures of the number of species and their relative abundances. However, the relative abundances of species are dependent on the abundance measure used. Although the use of biomass or productivity is recommended by theory, in practice a surrogate measure is more often used. Frequency (local or relative) and point-quadrat cover provide two objective measures of abundance which are fast, less destructive and avoid problems associated with distinguishing individuals. However, both give discrete bounded data which may further alter the relative abundances of species. These measures have a long history of use and, as the need for objective information on biodiversity becomes more pressing, their use is likely to become more widespread. Consequently, it seems appropriate to investigate the effect of these abundance measures, and the resolution at which they are used, on calculated evenness
Thesis, Dissertation, English, 2004