A family of functional dissimilarity measures for presence and absence data. Issue 15 (5th July 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ricotta, Carlo; Podani, János; Pavoine, Sandrine
• Is Part Of: Ecology and evolution. Volume 6:Issue 15(2016:Aug.)
• Page Start: 5383
• Page End: 5389
• Publication Date: 2016-07-05
• Subjects: Between‐species dissimilarities -- contingency table -- functional excess -- functional turnover -- species richness; Ecology -- Periodicals; Evolution -- Periodicals; 577.05
• DOI: 10.1002/ece3.2214
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2045-7758

Abstract

Abstract: Plot‐to‐plot dissimilarity measures are considered a valuable tool for understanding the complex ecological mechanisms that drive community composition. Traditional presence/absence coefficients are usually based on different combinations of the matching/mismatching components of the 2 × 2 contingency table. However, more recently, dissimilarity measures that incorporate information about the degree of functional differences between the species in both plots have received increasing attention. This is because such "functional dissimilarity measures" capture information on the species' functional traits, which is ignored by traditional coefficients. Therefore, functional dissimilarity measures tend to correlate more strongly with ecosystem‐level processes, as species influence these processes via their traits. In this study, we introduce a new family of dissimilarity measures for presence and absence data, which consider functional dissimilarities among species in the calculation of the matching/mismatching components of the 2 × 2 contingency table. Within this family, the behavior of the Jaccard coefficient, together with its additive components, species replacement, and richness difference, is examined by graphical comparisons and ordinations based on simulated data. Abstract : Traditional dissimilarity measures for presence/absence scores are usually based on different combinations of the matching/mismatching components of the 2 × 2 contingency table. However, more recently, dissimilarity measures that incorporate information about the degree of functional differences between the species in a given pair of plots have received increasing attention. This is because such "functional dissimilarity measures" capture information on the species' functional traits, which is ignored by traditional coefficients. Therefore, functional dissimilarity measures tend to correlate more strongly with ecosystem‐level processes, as species influence these processes via their traits. In this study, we introduce a new family of dissimilarity measures for presence and absence data, which consider functional dissimilarities among species in the calculation of the matching/mismatching components of the 2 × 2 contingency table.