06-May-2016 Lucinda Kirkpatrick "Diversity in the face of similarity"
Published: 11 February 2016
Please join us for a special research talk titled “Diversity in the face of similarity” by Lucinda Kirkpatrick
6th May 12 pm
Graham Kerr Building, Library
Lucinda Kirkpatrick will be speaking on “Diversity in the face of similarity” on the 6th of May at 12 pm in the GK library.
Assessing diversity is a key part of conservation, ecology and ecosystem management. However, there are a plethora of diversity measures available and different measures will show differing results for how diverse an ecosystem is. In addition not all species (or indeed individuals within populations) are equally different. Most diversity measures can account for differences in rarity but few account for similarities between species or individuals based on genetic, phylogenetic or functional similarity. I will present some new measures developed by the Diversity Group at University of Glasgow assessing diversity while accounting for similarity, and relate to my own work assessing lepidopteran diversity in and around conifer plantations. In particular I will show that “naïve” measures such as species richness or Shannon Weiner Index can show very different levels of diversity compared to when functional diversity or taxonomic / phylogenetic diversity is taken into account, revealing interesting similarities and differences between plantations and broadleaved woodlands.
First published: 11 February 2016