Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
4498885 | Journal of Theoretical Biology | 2007 | 8 Pages |
Abstract
Preston's classic work on the theory of species abundance distributions (SADs) in ecology has been challenged by Dewdney. Dewdney contends that Preston's veil-line concept, relating to the shape of sample SADs, is flawed. Here, I show that Preston's and Dewdney's theories can be reconciled by considering the differing mathematical properties of the sampling process on logarithmic (Preston) versus linear (Dewdney) abundance scales. I also derive several related results and show, importantly, that one cannot reject the log-normal distribution as a plausible SAD based only on sampling arguments, as Dewdney and others have done.
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Authors
Ryan A. Chisholm,