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A new sampling formula for neutral biodiversity
Open accessAbstract
The neutral model of biodiversity, proposed by Hubbell (The Unified Neutral Theory of Biodiversity and Biogeography, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2001) to explain the diversity of functionally equivalent species, has been subject of hot debate in community ecology. Whereas Hubbell studied the model mostly by simulations, recently analytical treatments have yielded expressions of the expected number of species of a particular abundance in a local community with dispersal limitation. Moreover, a formula has been offered for the joint likelihood of observing a given species‐abundance dataset in a local community with dispersal limitation, but this formula is too complicated to allow practical applications. Here, I present a much simplified expression that can be regarded as an enhanced version of the famous Ewens sampling formula. It can be used in maximum likelihood methods for quick estimation of the model parameters, using all information in the data, and for model comparison. I also show how to rapidly generate examples of species‐abundance distributions for a given set of model parameters and how to calculate Simpson's diversity index.
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Metadata
- Authors
- Etienne, R. S.
- Affiliations
- University of Groningen (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Etienne, Rampal S.
- ORCID
- Etienne, Rampal S.
- Venue
- Ecology Letters
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2005-02-03
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 253-260
- ISSN
- 1461-023X (ISSN-L)
- 1461-0248
- OpenAlex
- W2113373525
- Cited by
- 263
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 16.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- research.wur.nl
- Locations
- Ecology Letters (publishedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (publishedVersion)
- Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling (acceptedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Applied Mathematics › Mathematical and Theoretical Epidemiology and Ecology Models
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
- Keywords
- neutral theory of biodiversity, Ewens sampling formula, species abundance distribution, dispersal limitation, maximum likelihood estimation, model comparison, Simpson index, species abundance data, local communities
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