On defining and quantifying biotic homogenization
Open accessAbstract
Ongoing species invasions and extinctions are changing biological diversity in different ways at different spatial scales. Biotic homogenization (or BH) refers to the process by which the genetic, taxonomic or functional similarities of regional biotas increase over time. It is a multifaceted process that encompasses species invasions, extinctions and environmental alterations, focusing on how the identities of species (or their genetic or functional attributes) change over space and time. Despite the increasing use of the term BH in conservation biology, it is often used erroneously as a synonym for patterns of species invasions, loss of native species or changes in species richness through time. This reflects the absence of an agreed‐upon, cogent definition of BH. Here, we offer an operational definition for BH and review the various methodologies used to study this process. We identify the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches, and make explicit recommendations for future studies. We conclude by citing the need for researchers to: (1) consider carefully the definition of BH by recognizing the genetic, taxonomic and functional realms of this process; (2) recognize that documenting taxonomic homogenization requires tracking the identity of species (not species richness) comprising biotas through space and time; and (3) employ more rigorous methods for quantifying BH.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Agricultural intensification acts as an ecological filter that can eliminate entire communities in the process of biotic homogenization, limiting response-diversity and resilience of ecosystems.
“Agricultural intensification acts as an ecological filter1 that can eliminate entire communities in the process of biotic homogenization2345—a shift towards communities with shared traits6—limiting the response-diversity and resilience of ecosystems against disturbances278.”
From Landscape simplification filters species traits and drives biotic homogenization (2015) · cites this paper as [6]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
EVOLUTION AND MEASUREMENT OF SPECIES DIVERSITY
WHITTAKER, R. H. (1972) · Taxon · doi:10.2307/1218190 · Cited by 5,396 · see citing works
Progress in invasion biology: predicting invaders
Kolar, C. S., & Lodge, D. M. (2001) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/s0169-5347(01)02101-2 · Cited by 2,825 · see citing works
Biotic homogenization: a few winners replacing many losers in the next mass extinction
McKinney, M. L., & Lockwood, J. L. (1999) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/s0169-5347(99)01679-1 · Cited by 2,712 · see citing works
EXTINCTION BY HYBRIDIZATION AND INTROGRESSION
Rhymer, J. M., & Simberloff, D. (1996) · Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics · doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.27.1.83 · Cited by 2,480 · see citing works
Measuring beta diversity for presence–absence data
Koleff, P., Gaston, K. J., & Lennon, J. J. (2003) · Journal of Animal Ecology · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2656.2003.00710.x · Cited by 1,787 · see citing works
Ecological and evolutionary consequences of biotic homogenization
Olden, J. D., LeRoy Poff, N., Douglas, M. R., Douglas, M. E., & Fausch, K. D. (2004) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.tree.2003.09.010 · Cited by 1,573 · see citing works
Self-citationConservation Biogeography: assessment and prospect
Whittaker, R. J., Araújo, M. B., Jepson, P. R., Ladle, R. J., Watson, J. E. M., & Willis, K. J. (2005) · Diversity and Distributions · doi:10.1111/j.1366-9516.2005.00143.x · Cited by 1,285 · see citing works
Similarity indices, sample size and diversity
Wolda, H. (1981) · Oecologia · doi:10.1007/bf00344966 · Cited by 1,117 · see citing works
Arnaud‐Haond, S., & Belkhir, K. (2006) · Molecular Ecology Notes · doi:10.1111/j.1471-8286.2006.01522.x · Cited by 877 · see citing works
Species diversity: from global decreases to local increases
Sax, D. F., & Gaines, S. D. (2003) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/s0169-5347(03)00224-6 · Cited by 860 · see citing works
Homogenization of Freshwater Faunas
Rahel, F. J. (2002) · Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics · doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.33.010802.150429 · Cited by 853 · see citing works
Homogenization of Fish Faunas Across the United States
Rahel, F. J. (2000) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.288.5467.854 · Cited by 725 · see citing works
Species Invasions: Insights into Ecology, Evolution, and Biogeography
McCarthy, B. C. (2006) · The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society · doi:10.3159/1095-5674(2006)133[375b:br]2.0.co;2 · Cited by 592 · see citing works
Biotic homogenization: a new research agenda for conservation biogeography
Olden, J. D. (2006) · Journal of Biogeography · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2699.2006.01572.x · Cited by 573 · see citing works
Self-citationToward a Mechanistic Understanding and Prediction of Biotic Homogenization
Olden, J. D., & Poff, N. L. (2003) · The American Naturalist · doi:10.1086/378212 · Cited by 511 · see citing works
Self-citationAre communities saturated? On the relationship between α, β and γ diversity
Loreau, M. (2000) · Ecology Letters · doi:10.1046/j.1461-0248.2000.00127.x · Cited by 470 · see citing works
Biotic Impoverishment and Homogenization in Unfragmented Forest Understory Communities
Rooney, T. P., Wiegmann, S. M., Rogers, D. A., & Waller, D. M. (2004) · Conservation Biology · doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2004.00515.x · Cited by 408 · see citing works
Self-citationGering, J. C., Crist, T. O., & Veech, J. A. (2003) · Conservation Biology · doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.2003.01465.x · Cited by 396 · see citing works
Similarity Coefficients: Measures of Co-Occurrence and Association or Simply Measures of Occurrence?
Jackson, D. A., Somers, K. M., & Harvey, H. H. (1989) · The American Naturalist · doi:10.1086/284927 · Cited by 282 · see citing works
The Effects of Urban Sprawl on Birds at Multiple Levels of Biological Organization
Blair, R. B. (2004) · Ecology and Society · doi:10.5751/es-00688-090502 · Cited by 274 · see citing works
Blair, R. B. (2001) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-1261-5_3 · Cited by 252 · see citing works
ECOLOGICAL PROCESSES DRIVING BIOTIC HOMOGENIZATION: TESTING A MECHANISTIC MODEL USING FISH FAUNAS
Olden, J. D., & Poff, N. L. (2004) · Ecology · doi:10.1890/03-3131 · Cited by 200 · see citing works
Self-citationMeasuring floristic homogenization by non‐native plants in North America
McKinney, M. L. (2004) · Global Ecology and Biogeography · doi:10.1111/j.1466-882x.2004.00059.x · Cited by 187 · see citing works
Spatial similarity of urban bird communities: a multiscale approach
Jokimäki, J., & Kaisanlahti‐Jokimäki, M. (2003) · Journal of Biogeography · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2699.2003.00896.x · Cited by 162 · see citing works
Visions for Recreational Fishing Regulations
Radomski, P. J., Grant, G. C., Jacobson, P. C., & Cook, M. F. (2001) · Fisheries · doi:10.1577/1548-8446(2001)026 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
Walters, D., Leigh, D. S., & Bearden, A. B. (2003) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-94-017-3366-3_2 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
Biological invasions at the gene level
Petit, R. J. (2004) · Diversity and Distributions · doi:10.1111/j.1366-9516.2004.00084.x · Cited by 131 · see citing works
Do Exotics Homogenize or Differentiate Communities? Roles of Sampling and Exotic Species Richness
McKinney, M. L. (2004) · Biological Invasions · doi:10.1023/b:binv.0000041562.31023.42 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
Walters, D., Leigh, D. S., & Bearden, A. B. (2003) · Hydrobiologia · doi:10.1023/a:1025412804074 · Cited by 125 · see citing works
The relationships between local and regional species richness and spatial turnover
Koleff, P., & Gaston, K. J. (2002) · Global Ecology and Biogeography · doi:10.1046/j.1466-822x.2002.00302.x · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Homogenization of California’s Fish Fauna Through Abiotic Change
Marchetti, M., Light, T., Feliciano, J., et al. (2001) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-1261-5_13 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Taylor, E. B. (2004) · Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences · doi:10.1139/f03-141 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Cowie, R. H. (2001) · Biological Conservation · doi:10.1016/s0006-3207(00)00181-6 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Species-area curves, homogenization and the loss of global diversity
Collins, M. D., Vázquez, D. P., & Sanders, N. J. (2002) · Evolutionary ecology research · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Lichatowich, J. A., Mobrand, L. E., Lestelle, L., & Vogel, T. (1995) · Fisheries · doi:10.1577/1548-8446(1995)020 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
The Human Dimensions of Biotic Homogenization
Olden, J. D., Douglas, M. E., & Douglas, M. R. (2005) · Conservation Biology · doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2005.00288.x · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Self-citationChanges in functional biodiversity in an invaded freshwater ecosystem: the Moselle River
Devin, S., Beisel, J., Usseglio‐Polatera, P., et al. (2005) · Hydrobiologia · doi:10.1007/s10750-004-8771-6 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Status of Fishes in New York: Increases, Declines and Homogenization of Watersheds
Carlson, D. M., & Daniels, R. A. (2004) · The American Midland Naturalist · doi:10.1674/0003-0031(2004)152[0104:sofiny]2.0.co;2 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Clarifying biotic homogenization
Olden, J. D., & Poff, N. L. (2004) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.tree.2004.03.024 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Self-citationA MUST FOR NORTH AMERICAN BIOGEOGRAPHERS
Rejmánek, M. (2000) · Diversity and Distributions · doi:10.1046/j.1472-4642.2000.00073-3.x · Cited by 34 · see citing works
The long history of the biotic homogenization concept
Wilkinson, D. (2004) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.tree.2004.03.025 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Wilson, K.-J. (1997) · Pacific Conservation Biology · doi:10.1071/pc970301 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Lockwood, J. (2001) · Springer US · doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-1261-5 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Duncan, J. R., & Lockwood, J. L. (2001) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-1261-5_12 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- McKinney, M.L. (2005) New Pangea: homogenizing the future biosphere. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 56 (Suppl. 1), 119-129.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Landscape simplification filters species traits and drives biotic homogenization
Gámez-Virués, S., Perović, D. J., Gossner, M. M., Börschig, C., Blüthgen, N., de Jong, H., Simons, N. K., Klein, A.-M., Krauss, J., Maier, G., et al. (2015) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms9568 · Cited by 666 · see citing works
Functional biotic homogenization of bird communities in disturbed landscapes
Devictor, V., Julliard, R., Clavel, J., Jiguet, F., Lee, A., & Couvet, D. (2008) · Global Ecology and Biogeography · doi:10.1111/j.1466-8238.2007.00364.x · Cited by 463 · see citing works
Tabarelli, M., Peres, C. A., & Melo, F. P. L. (2012) · Biological Conservation · doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2012.06.020 · Cited by 378 · see citing works
Four Centuries of Change in Northeastern United States Forests
Thompson, J. R., Carpenter, D. N., Cogbill, C. V., & Foster, D. R. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0072540 · Cited by 331 · see citing works
Morri, C., Montefalcone, M., Gatti, G., Vassallo, P., Paoli, C., & Bianchi, C. N. (2019) · Diversity · doi:10.3390/d11090146 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
- Authors
- Olden, J. D., & Rooney, T. P.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Corresponding author
- Olden, Julian D.
- Venue
- Global Ecology and Biogeography
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2006-02-28
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 113-120
- ISSN
- 1466-822X (ISSN-L)
- 1466-8238
- OpenAlex
- W2145048942
- Cited by
- 801
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 51 · 2025: 56 · 2024: 58 · 2023: 55 · 2022: 52 · 2021: 53 · 2020: 58 · 2019: 48 · 2018: 46 · 2017: 47 · 2016: 28 · 2015: 33 · 2014: 33 · 2013: 33 · 2012: 24
- FWCI
- 18.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Global Ecology and Biogeography (publishedVersion)
- Journal of Bioresource Management (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (0236333)
- U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Nature Conservancy
- Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecological Modeling › Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Keywords
- biotic homogenization, taxonomic homogenization, biological invasions, species extinction, operational definitions, species richness, genetic homogenization, functional homogenization, biodiversity change, conservation biology
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
