Testing the performance of beta diversity measures based on incidence data: the robustness to undersampling

Copyright © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.AIM Researchers measuring beta diversity have rarely concerned themselves with the problems of how complete the species lists of studied communities are, and of how the varying degrees of completeness can actually change estimates of beta diversity. No comprehensive assessment has been made regarding the behaviour of most beta diversity indices when applied to incomplete samples, a situation which is more common than usually recognized. Our objective was to assess the behaviour and robustness of a number of beta diversity measures for incidence data from under sampled communities. LOCATION Mainland Portugal and the Azorean archipelago (North Atlantic)