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A TEST FOR DECLINING DIVERSITY
Author(s) -
Solow Andrew R.,
Costello Christopher J.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.1890/0012-9658(2001)082[2370:atfdd]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - diversity (politics) , ecology , test (biology) , geography , biology , sociology , anthropology
A common problem in applied ecology is to determine whether the diversity of a biological community declines along a gradient. This note describes a statistical test for such a decline. The test is based on a combination of nonlinear optimization and a parametric bootstrap. An illustration involving late Cretaceous dinosaur diversity is presented.