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Cover Picture and Issue Information
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
methods in ecology and evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.425
H-Index - 105
ISSN - 2041-210X
DOI - 10.1111/2041-210x.12485
Subject(s) - iucn red list , cover (algebra) , geography , white (mutation) , plumage , bit (key) , ecology , history , genealogy , art history , ethnology , computer science , biology , mechanical engineering , engineering , biochemistry , computer security , gene
This month’s cover image shows a beautiful, brilliantly colored fairy pitta ( Pitta nympha ) perched on a bamboo branch. The migratory fairy pitta breeds in Northeast Asia (Japan, South Korea, east China and Taiwan) from late April to September and winters mainly in Borneo from October to March. In Taiwan, the fairy pitta is also called the “eight colored bird” (as there are eight colors in its plumage: beige, yellow, green, brown, black, white, red on the vent area, and shiny blue on its wings) or the “little forest fairy” (as its body length is around 16–19 cm). The fairy pitta is rare and elusive, and is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, mainly due to the destruction of its primary habitats. The majestic beauty of this fairy has provided the authors of ‘iNEXT: An R package for rarefaction and extrapolation of species diversity (Hill numbers)’ with a wealth of inspiration in formulating their methodology and relevant software to compute and plot the seamless sample‐size‐ and sample‐coverage‐based rarefaction and extrapolation sampling curves for species diversity. Hsieh, Ma and Chao developed the iNEXT (iNterpolation and EXTrapolation) R package, which features an easy‐to‐use interface and efficiently uses all data to not only make robust and detailed inferences about the sampled assemblages, but also to make objective comparisons of species diversity among multiple assemblages. Photo credit: © Jia Hong Chen