How should we estimate diversity in the fossil record? Testing richness estimators using sampling‐standardised discovery curves

• Published in: Methods in ecology and evolution Vol. 9; no. 6; pp. 1386 - 1400
• Main Authors: Close, Roger A., Evers, Serjoscha W., Alroy, John, Butler, Richard J., Cooper, Natalie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.06.2018
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Cenozoic; Construction standards; Datasets; Dinosauria; Dinosaurs; diversity; Estimates; Estimators; Extrapolation; fossil record; Fossils; Interpolation; Mesozoic; sample coverage; Sample size; Sampling; shareholder quorum subsampling; species accumulation curve; Species richness

To infer genuine patterns of biodiversity change in the fossil record, we must be able to accurately estimate relative differences in numbers of taxa (richness) despite considerable variation in sampling between time intervals. Popular subsampling (=interpolation) methods aim to standardise diversit...