Rarity, commonness, and the contribution of individual species to species richness patterns

Abstract

Common species have a greater effect on observed geographical patterns of species richness than do rare ones. Here we present a theory of the relationship between individual species occurrence patterns and patterns in species richness, which allows purely geometrical and statistical causes to be distinguished from biological ones.

Keywords

• macroecology
• diversity patterns
• diversity distribution
• occupancy
• distribution
• nestedness
• incidence matrix