A partial ordering approach for functional diversity

Carlo Ricotta, Laszlo Szeidl, Marco Moretti and Carlo Blasi

Theoretical Population Biology, 2011, vol. 80, issue 2, 114-120

Abstract: Functional diversity is generally regarded as the constituent of biological diversity that considers how the species functional traits affect ecosystem processes. Due to its ecological relevance, a number of indices of functional diversity have been proposed to date based on distinct objectives and motivations. Such proliferation of indices can be at least partially overcome by a more fundamental mathematical approach. In this paper we propose an intrinsic ordering approach for abundance-weighted measures of functional diversity that is similar to the Lorenz curves used by ecologists for ordering evenness measures. We then discuss the relevance of a number of functional diversity indices that have a behavior compatible with the proposed partial ordering.

Keywords: Intrinsic diversity profiles; Functional traits; Lorenz curve; Partially ordered sets; Rao quadratic diversity; Species abundances (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:thpobi:v:80:y:2011:i:2:p:114-120

DOI: 10.1016/j.tpb.2011.03.007

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