SPECIES RICHNESS ESTIMATION

Various models and estimation procedures for estimating the number of species in a community are reviewed under the following sampling schemes: sampling by continuous-type of efforts, sampling by individuals , and sampling by quadrats (or multiple occasions). Applications and relevant software are briefly reviewed. Species richness (i.e., the number of species) is the simplest and the most intuitive concept for characterizing community diversity. We focus on the estimation of species richness based on a sample from a local community. This is also refered to as alpha diversity in ecological science. The topic is important for comparing communities in conservation and management of biodiversity, for assessing the effects of human disturbance on biodiversity, and for making environmental policy decisions. for reviews on general ecological diversity as well as references [5, 16] for reviews specifically on species richness estimation. See also a recent book [49] for various sampling aspects and relevant methodologies. In biological and ecological sciences, the compilation of complete species census and inventories often requires extraordinary efforts and is an almost unattainable goal in practical applications. There are undiscovered species in almost every taxonomic survey or species inventory. Traditional non-sampling-based approaches to estimating species richness include the following: (1) Extrapolating a species-accumulation or species-area curve to predict its asymptote, which is used as an estimate of species 1

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