Theory, Statistics, and Software for the Additive Partitioning of Species Diversity Across Multiple Scales

这项研究将发展的理论基础，统计方法和计算机软件需要跨栖息地，景观和区域的生物多样性分区。由于人类活动继续影响生物多样性，有必要评估物种多样性在自然和人为改变的生境、景观和区域之间的差异。拟议的研究将通过提供一个新的分析和统计框架，以了解跨多个尺度的物种多样性模式，以新的方式发展旧的物种多样性概念。将开发一个综合软件程序（分区），从现场数据计算物种多样性分区。物种多样性和物种特征的生态模式将用于解释和预测不同类型的多样性分区。最后，几个数据集将使用这些方法进行分析，以证明多样性划分的理论和应用生态问题的有用性。这项研究有几个更广泛的影响。它将为生态学家、保护生物学家和研究管理人员提供一个急需的软件包，他们每天都在为保护物种多样性做出决定。从理论上讲，它将增强我们对物种多样性的基本认识。这项研究将培养学生的理论和物种多样性的测量，沿着统计分析和多样性数据库的管理。这种培训将推进理论和应用生态学界面的本科教学。最后，这项研究的结果将提供一个标准的措施，如何在景观中分配多样性，以防止在全球环境变化的生物多样性的损失。

This study will develop the theoretical basis, the statistical methods, and the computer software needed to partition biodiversity across habitats, landscapes and regions. As human activities continue to influence biodiversity, there is a need to assess how species diversity differs among natural and human-altered habitats, landscapes, and regions. The proposed research will develop older species diversity concepts in novel ways by providing a new analytical and statistical framework for understanding patterns of species diversity across multiple scales. A comprehensive software program (PARTITION) will be developed to calculate species diversity partitions from field data. Ecological patterns in species diversity and in species traits will next be used to suggest explanations for, and to predict, different kinds of diversity partitions. Finally, several data sets will be analyzed using these methods to demonstrate the usefulness of diversity partitioning to theoretical and applied ecological problems. There are several broader impacts of this research. It will provide a much needed software package to ecologists, conservation biologists and research managers who make daily decisions to conserve species diversity. From a theoretical perspective, it will enhance our basic understanding of species diversity. The study will train students in the theory and the measurement of species diversity, along with statistical analyses and management of diversity databases. This training will advance undergraduate teaching at the interface of theoretical and applied ecology. Finally, the results from this study will provide a standard measure of how diversity is partitioned across landscapes, to prevent loss of biodiversity in the face of global environmental change.