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Cited by 466

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 31 of the 31 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Diversity is the question, not the answer

Open access
Shade, Ashley·2017·The ISME Journal

Abstract

Local diversity (within-sample or alpha diversity) is often implicated as a cause of success or failure of a microbial community. However, the relationships between diversity and emergent properties of a community, such as its stability, productivity or invasibility, are much more nuanced. I argue that diversity without context provides limited insights into the mechanisms underpinning community patterns. I provide examples from traditional and microbial ecology to discuss common complications and assumptions about within-sample diversity that may prevent us from digging deeper into the more specific mechanisms underpinning community outcomes. I suggest that measurement of diversity should serve as a starting point for further inquiry of ecological mechanisms rather than an ‘answer’ to community outcomes.

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Metadata

Authors
Shade, A.
Venue
The ISME Journal
Published
2016-09-16
Volume
11
Issue
1
Pages
1-6
ISSN
  • 1751-7362 (ISSN-L)
  • 1751-7370
OpenAlex
W2511739150
Cited by
466
References
31
FWCI
29.12
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
hybrid

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Diversity is the question, not the answer. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1038/ismej.2016.118
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Shade, A. (2017). Diversity is the question, not the answer. The ISME Journal. https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2016.118

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Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.