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ESTIMATING THE EFFECTS OF SCALE ON LATITUDINAL DIVERSITY GRADIENTS IN COASTAL ESTUARIES
Citation:
Garza, C D. ESTIMATING THE EFFECTS OF SCALE ON LATITUDINAL DIVERSITY GRADIENTS IN COASTAL ESTUARIES. Presented at Western Society of Naturalists, Long Beach, CA, Nov. 7-10, 2003.
Description:
Garza, Corey. 2003. Estimating the Effects of Scale on Latitudinal Diversity Gradients in Coastal Estuaries (Abstract). Presented at the 84th Annual Meeting of the Western Society of Naturalists, 7-10 November 2003, Long Beach, CA. 1 p. (ERL,GB R967).
In this study the effect of spatial scale on patterns of species diversity in West coast estuaries was analyzed across a latitudinal transect using survey data from the U.S.E.P.A. environmental monitoring and assessment program (EMAP). Data on polychaete diversity were analyzed at three spatial scales to assess whether there was variation in the relationship between two diversity measurements, H' and species richness, to both natural and anthropogenic inputs over a latitudinal transect. Over the transect there was an increase in the average value of the diversity index H', however these increases were associated not only with decreases in latitude but also with spatial scale dependent changes in the average values of both chlorophyll A and total suspended solids (TSS). Unlike H', species richness did not display a significant relationship to latitude or to scale dependent variation in values of TSS and chlorophyll A. However, log-transformed values of species richness did display a positive relationship to salinity independent of spatial scale and latitude. The results of this study suggest processes that occur at a local scale may affect latitudinal patterns of diversity and that detecting these patterns may be dependent upon the choice of diversity measurement used in similar analyses.