Estimating size and composition of biological communities by modeling the occurrence of species

Journal of the American Statistical Association
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Abstract

We develop a model that uses repeated observations of a biological community to estimate the number and composition of species in the community. Estimators of community-level attributes are constructed from model-based estimators of occurrence of individual species that incorporate imperfect detection of individuals. Data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey are analyzed to illustrate the variety of ecologically important quantities that are easily constructed and estimated using our model-based estimators of species occurrence. In particular, we compute site-specific estimates of species richness that honor classical notions of species-area relationships. We suggest extensions of our model to estimate maps of occurrence of individual species and to compute inferences related to the temporal and spatial dynamics of biological communities.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Estimating size and composition of biological communities by modeling the occurrence of species
Series title Journal of the American Statistical Association
DOI 10.1198/016214505000000015
Volume 100
Issue 470
Year Published 2005
Language English
Publisher Taylor & Francis
Contributing office(s) Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
Description 10 p.
First page 389
Last page 398
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