ANALYZING BETA DIVERSITY: PARTITIONING THE SPATIAL VARIATION OF COMMUNITY COMPOSITION DATA

Robert H. Whittaker defined beta diversity as the variation in species composition among sites in a geographic area. Beta diversity is a key concept for understanding the functioning of ecosystems, for the conservation of biodiversity, and for ecosystem management. This paper explains how hypotheses about the origin of beta diversity can be tested by partitioning the spatial variation of community composition data (presence– absence or abundance data) with respect to environmental variables and spatial base functions. We compare two statistical methods to accomplish that. The sum‐of‐squares of a community composition data table, which is one possible measure of beta diversity, is correctly partitioned by…