Measuring beta-diversity from taxonomic similarity

Abstract

Abstract Question: The utility of beta (β-) diversity measures that incorporate information about the degree of taxonomic (dis)similarity between species plots is becoming increasingly recognized. In this framework, the question for this study is: can we define an ecologically meaningful index of β-diversity that, besides indicating simple species turnover, is able to account for taxonomic similarity amongst species in plots? Methods: First, the properties of existing measures of taxonomic similarity measures are briefly reviewed. Next, a new measure of plot-to-plot taxonomic similarity is presented that is based on the maximal common subgraph of two taxonomic trees. The proposed measure is computed from species presences and absences and include information about the degree of higher-level taxonomic similarity between species plots. The performance of the proposed measure with respect to existing coefficients of taxonomic similarity and the coefficient of Jaccard is discussed using a small data set of he...