Scale Dependence and the Species-Area Relationship
Year: 1994
Type: article
Abstract: The complex relationship between species richness and area can be simplified by decomposing spatial scale into its components: grain, extent, and number of samples. We designed a 256 x 256-m study grid in the Oosting Natural Area in the Duke Forest, Orange County, North Carolina, such that the effects of these components can be disentangled. We found that grain, extent, and the number of samples all influenced the species-area relationship, although the effects of grain were dominant. We also found that species richness patterns were neither self-similar nor hierarchical. The degree to which diversity occurs in "hot spots" increases as a function of both grain and extent, but diversity hot spots tend to persist across a wide range of grains.
Source: The American Naturalist
DOI: 10.1086/285704
Authors: Michael W. Palmer, Peter S. White
Institution: Oklahoma State University
Language: English
Subfield: Nature and Landscape Conservation
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2016271789