Determining β-diversity of protozoa for bioassessment in coastal ecosystems using community-based dispersions

• Published in: Ecological indicators Vol. 72; pp. 47 - 52
• Main Authors: Wang, Zheng, Xu, Guangjian, Xu, Henglong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2017
• Subjects: Bioassessment; biological assessment; data collection; dispersions; ecosystems; global change; Marine ecosystems; Multivariate dispersion; Protozoa; Protozoan community; species diversity; water quality; β-diversity; Multivariate dispersion; Marine ecosystems; Protozoan community; Bioassessment; β-diversity
• ISSN: 1470-160X; 1872-7034
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.08.001

•Species composition was the primary contributor to community structure of protozoa;.•Community-based dispersions were significantly related to Whittaker’s β-diversity;.•Heavy data transformations were a feasible choice to detect β-diversity of protozoa. The β-diversity of protozoan communities is a useful bioindicator of environmental heterogeneity and water quality status in global change research. As a broad β-diversity measure, multivariate dispersions are subject to influence from the relative weight placed on changes in composition versus abundance. To identify a feasible numeral resolution for determining β-diversity of protozoa using community-based dispersions, a dataset of the protozoan communities was studied. Results showed that although species composition was the primary contributor to the multivariate dispersions, the community-based dispersions showed a significant linear relationship to the Whittaker’s β-diversity index. However, the data transformations on species-abundance data represented clear influences on outputs of community-based dispersion measures: heavy (e.g., fourth root or log) transforms were more feasible than slight ones. Based on the results, we suggest that the community-based multivariate dispersions with heavy data transforms may be used to summarize the β-diversity of protozoan communities for bioassessment in coastal ecosystems.