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Average Taxonomic Distinctness as a Measure of Global Biodiversity

Tunison, Robert
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1535635897703678

Abstract Details

2018, MS, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences: Biological Sciences.
Many studies on biological diversity aim to understand this topic to increase the impact of conservation efforts. While there are many investigations that seek to explain global patterns of biodiversity, there are few that describe biodiversity in the context of political geography. I sought to create a tool that could be used to explore the role of biodiversity in comparative geopolitical studies related to conservation. In order to understand how conservation studies are performed in the context of political geography, I created a country-based index of biological diversity using Average Taxonomic Distinctness measures. This index differs from other indices by giving a measure of how unique the biodiversity of a country is, rather than giving a simple species richness measure. Furthermore, I chose to use Average Taxonomic Distinctness because it has previously been shown to be robust to biases from sampling effort and sampling area (Clarke \& Warwick, 1998). I demonstrate in this paper that this country-based biodiversity index can be used to identify countries with relatively high or low biodiversity. I also demonstrate that the index holds ecological relevance and can be used in large-scale comparative studies by determining that island countries have higher Average Taxonomic Distinctness, as expected. While I was unable to show that this index was robust to bias from sampling area, I was able to demonstrate that the index was likely robust to biases from sampling effort.
Theresa Culley, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Eric Tepe, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Anne Vonderheide, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
55 p.
Biology
biodiversity; conservation; political ecology

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Tunison, R. (2018). Average Taxonomic Distinctness as a Measure of Global Biodiversity [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1535635897703678

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Tunison, Robert. Average Taxonomic Distinctness as a Measure of Global Biodiversity. 2018. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1535635897703678.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Tunison, Robert. "Average Taxonomic Distinctness as a Measure of Global Biodiversity." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1535635897703678

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1535635897703678
134
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This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.