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Global tests of biodiversity concordance and the importance of endemism

Article Abstract:

Global patterns of richness are highly correlated among amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, as are endemism patterns and although the correlation between global richness and endemism is low, aggregate regions selected for high levels of endemism capture significantly more species than expected by chance. Although areas high in endemism have long been targeted for the protection of narrow-ranging species, endemism is also a useful surrogate for the conservation of all terrestrial vertebrates.

Environmental aspects, Vertebrates, Amphibians

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Field parameterization and experimental test of the neutral theory of biodiversity

Article Abstract:

A strong method is introduced to test the neutral theory that combines field parameterization of the underlying population dynamics with a field experiment, which can be applied to a rocky intertidal community. It is found that although the observed abundance-frequency distribution of the system follows that predicted by the neutral theory, the neutral theory predicts poorly the field experimental results indicating an essential role for a variation in species interaction.

United States, Population biology

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A test of the unified neutral theory of biodiversity

Article Abstract:

Recent theory suggests that biodiversty is controlled predominantly by neutral drift of species abundances. The theory predicts that the species abundance distribution within a community should follow a zero-sum multinomial distribution, however, the same has not, so far, been rigorously tested.

Neutral evolution

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