Beta diversity and similarity among cactus assemblages in the Chihuahuan Desert
We sampled the cactus species in 23 localities along a longitudinal transect in the southeastern segment of the Chihuahuan Desert. Using Wilson and Shmida's formula we calculated beta diversity values among contiguous and non-contiguous sites. As a complement, Jaccard's index of similarity...
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Published in | Journal of arid environments Vol. 65; no. 4; pp. 513 - 528 |
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Main Authors | , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Elsevier Ltd
01.06.2006
|
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | We sampled the cactus species in 23 localities along a longitudinal transect in the southeastern segment of the Chihuahuan Desert. Using Wilson and Shmida's formula we calculated beta diversity values among contiguous and non-contiguous sites. As a complement, Jaccard's index of similarity was also calculated among all sites. A total of 61 species were found along the transect, although most tended to be infrequent, and only 27 surpassed the mean value of the frequencies (mean
f
=
28.3
%
). In most cases, relatively high to moderate
β diversity values were obtained. The average value for all the site combinations was
β
=
0.52
(S.D.=±0.17, range=0.12–0.93). The highest similarity value was
I
S
J
=
0.79
, corresponding to two non-contiguous localities. The high diversity of cactus species in the study area may be explained, in part, by a relatively high to moderate level of turnover among the different species assemblages. However,
β diversity is mainly a product of the intermittent pattern of spatial distribution of the cactus species in this region, rather than a real species turnover. |
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Bibliography: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2005.08.008 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0140-1963 1095-922X |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2005.08.008 |