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dc.contributor.authorAntão, Laura H.
dc.contributor.authorMagurran, Anne E.
dc.contributor.authorDornelas, Maria
dc.date.accessioned2021-04-21T12:30:08Z
dc.date.available2021-04-21T12:30:08Z
dc.date.issued2021-04-07
dc.identifier.citationAntão , L H , Magurran , A E & Dornelas , M 2021 , ' The shape of species abundance distributions across spatial scales ' , Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution , vol. 9 , 626730 . https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.626730en
dc.identifier.issn2296-701X
dc.identifier.otherPURE: 273899262
dc.identifier.otherPURE UUID: 46fcfd01-aa8d-4266-8cd4-9e408978d944
dc.identifier.otherJisc: 5767c552f1f8483eacfd25f903cda619
dc.identifier.otherORCID: /0000-0002-0036-2795/work/92775255
dc.identifier.otherORCID: /0000-0001-6612-9366/work/92775323
dc.identifier.otherScopus: 85104669196
dc.identifier.otherWOS: 000641577200001
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10023/23068
dc.descriptionFunding: We thank the University of St. Andrews Bioinformatics Unit (Wellcome Trust ISSF grant [105621/Z/14/Z]). The two icons in Figure 2 are from the Noun Project under CCBY license: land by A. Skowalsky, and wave by B. Farias.en
dc.description.abstractSpecies abundance distributions (SADs) describe community structure and are a key component of biodiversity theory and research. Although different distributions have been proposed to represent SADs at different scales, a systematic empirical assessment of how SAD shape varies across wide scale gradients is lacking. Here, we examined 11 empirical large-scale datasets for a wide range of taxa and used maximum likelihood methods to compare the fit of the logseries, lognormal, and multimodal (i.e., with multiple modes of abundance) models to SADs across a scale gradient spanning several orders of magnitude. Overall, there was a higher prevalence of multimodality for larger spatial extents, whereas the logseries was exclusively selected as best fit for smaller areas. For many communities the shape of the SAD at the largest spatial extent (either lognormal or multimodal) was conserved across the scale gradient, despite steep declines in area and taxonomic diversity sampled. Additionally, SAD shape was affected by species richness, but we did not detect a systematic effect of the total number of individuals. Our results reveal clear departures from the predictions of two major macroecological theories of biodiversity for SAD shape. Specifically, neither the Neutral Theory of Biodiversity (NTB) nor the Maximum Entropy Theory of Ecology (METE) are able to accommodate the variability in SAD shape we encountered. This is highlighted by the inadequacy of the logseries distribution at larger scales, contrary to predictions of the NTB, and by departures from METE expectation across scales. Importantly, neither theory accounts for multiple modes in SADs. We suggest our results are underpinned by both inter- and intraspecific spatial aggregation patterns, highlighting the importance of spatial distributions as determinants of biodiversity patterns. Critical developments for macroecological biodiversity theories remain in incorporating the effect of spatial scale, ecological heterogeneity and spatial aggregation patterns in determining SAD shape.
dc.format.extent11
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofFrontiers in Ecology and Evolutionen
dc.rightsCopyright © 2021 Antão, Magurran and Dornelas. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.en
dc.subjectEcology and Evolutionen
dc.subjectSpatial scaleen
dc.subjectBiodiversityen
dc.subjectCommunity structureen
dc.subjectMultimodalityen
dc.subjectMacroecologyen
dc.subjectMaximum entropy theory of ecologyen
dc.subjectNeutral theory of biodiversity and biogeographyen
dc.subjectQH301 Biologyen
dc.subject3rd-DASen
dc.subject.lccQH301en
dc.titleThe shape of species abundance distributions across spatial scalesen
dc.typeJournal articleen
dc.contributor.sponsorThe Wellcome Trusten
dc.description.versionPublisher PDFen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. School of Biologyen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. Centre for Biological Diversityen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. Scottish Oceans Instituteen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. Institute of Behavioural and Neural Sciencesen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. St Andrews Sustainability Instituteen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. Centre for Research into Ecological & Environmental Modellingen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. Fish Behaviour and Biodiversity Research Groupen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. Marine Alliance for Science & Technology Scotlanden
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.626730
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.identifier.grantnumber105621/Z/14/Zen


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