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Rethinking the relationship between nestedness and beta diversity: a comment on Baselga (2010)
Author(s) -
AlmeidaNeto Mário,
Frensel Daniella M. B.,
Ulrich Werner
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
global ecology and biogeography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.164
H-Index - 152
eISSN - 1466-8238
pISSN - 1466-822X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2011.00709.x
Subject(s) - nestedness , beta diversity , ecology , species richness , pairwise comparison , diversity (politics) , biology , mathematics , statistics , sociology , anthropology
ABSTRACT Baselga [Partitioning the turnover and nestedness components of beta diversity. Global Ecology and Biogeography , 19 , 134–143, 2010] proposed pairwise (β nes ) and multiple‐site (β NES ) beta‐diversity measures to account for the nestedness component of beta diversity. We used empirical, randomly created and idealized matrices to show that both measures are only partially related to nestedness and do not fit certain fundamental requirements for consideration as true nestedness‐resultant dissimilarity measures. Both β nes and β NES are influenced by matrix size and fill, and increase or decrease even when nestedness remains constant. Additionally, we demonstrate that β NES can yield high values even for matrices with no nestedness. We conclude that β nes and β NES are not true measures of the nestedness‐resultant dissimilarity between sites. Actually, they quantify how differences in species richness that are not due to species replacement contribute to patterns of beta diversity. Finally, because nestedness is a special case of dissimilarity in species composition due to ordered species loss (or gain), the extent to which differences in species composition is due to nestedness can be measured through an index of nestedness.