Premium
Decomposing phylodiversity
Author(s) -
Marcon Eric,
Hérault Bruno
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
methods in ecology and evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.425
H-Index - 105
ISSN - 2041-210X
DOI - 10.1111/2041-210x.12323
Subject(s) - phylogenetic tree , estimator , entropy (arrow of time) , phylogenetic diversity , ultrametric space , mathematics , computer science , ecology , statistics , biology , discrete mathematics , metric space , biochemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , gene
Summary Measuring functional or phylogenetic diversity is the object of an active literature. The main issues to address are relating measures to a clear conceptual framework, allowing unavoidable estimation‐bias correction and decomposing diversity along spatial scales. We provide a general mathematical framework to decompose measures of species‐neutral, phylogenetic or functional diversity into α and β components. We first unify the definitions of phylogenetic and functional entropy and diversity as a generalization of HCDT entropy and H ill numbers when an ultrametric tree is considered. We then derive the decomposition of diversity. We propose a bias correction of the estimates allowing meaningful computation from real, often undersampled communities. Entropy can be transformed into true diversity, that is an effective number of species or communities. Estimators of α‐ and β‐entropy, phylogenetic and functional entropy are provided. Proper definition and estimation of diversity is the first step towards better understanding its underlying ecological and evolutionary mechanisms.