<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Taxonomic ratio in an ecological context is considered as an indicator of the level of competitive exclusion. In spite of more than a century of discussions on taxonomic ratio, the problem of finding an unbiased estimator for flora characterisation remains unsolved. The traditional form of taxonomic ratio (species/genus or species/families ratio) is biased, which depends on the area of territory for which the floral composition was established. This circumstance makes the taxonomic ratio an inadequate characteristic of the flora. To solve the problem of finding an unbiased estimator for the taxonomic ratio, we have combined two fundamental ecological generalisations. The first is that species that belong to the same genus usually live in similar habitats and have similar morphological features. The struggle for life between species from the same genus is, therefore, more intense than between species from different genera. The second is species–area relationship. We have considered the problem of finding an unbiased taxonomic relationship using the Arrhenius curves to fit species–area relationships. This combination allowed us to find a form of unbiased taxonomic relationship. The example of Cyanophyceae flora shows that this indicator is closely related to a wide range of ecological and biogeographical characteristics of vegetation. The residual of the linear equation of dependence of the logarithm of the number of species on the logarithm of the number of genera is an unbiased indicator of the taxonomic relation, which is independent of the number of genera (or number of families) and the sampling size (or area). An unbiased taxonomic relationship is a characteristic of regional flora, which depends on a wide range of its ecological and biogeographical features.</p>
</abstract>

Taxonomic ratio in an ecological context is considered as an indicator of the level of competitive exclusion. In spite of more than a century of discussions on taxonomic ratio, the problem of finding an unbiased estimator for flora characterisation remains unsolved. The traditional form of taxonomic ratio (species/genus or species/families ratio) is biased, which depends on the area of territory for which the floral composition was established. This circumstance makes the taxonomic ratio an inadequate characteristic of the flora. To solve the problem of finding an unbiased estimator for the taxonomic ratio, we have combined two fundamental ecological generalisations. The first is that species that belong to the same genus usually live in similar habitats and have similar morphological features. The struggle for life between species from the same genus is, therefore, more intense than between species from different genera. The second is species–area relationship. We have considered the problem of finding an unbiased taxonomic relationship using the Arrhenius curves to fit species–area relationships. This combination allowed us to find a form of unbiased taxonomic relationship. The example of Cyanophyceae flora shows that this indicator is closely related to a wide range of ecological and biogeographical characteristics of vegetation. The residual of the linear equation of dependence of the logarithm of the number of species on the logarithm of the number of genera is an unbiased indicator of the taxonomic relation, which is independent of the number of genera (or number of families) and the sampling size (or area). An unbiased taxonomic relationship is a characteristic of regional flora, which depends on a wide range of its ecological and biogeographical features.

The Ecological Interpretation of Unbiased Estimator for the Taxonomic Ratio: Different Approaches for Local and Regional Flora

Bogdan Khmelnitsky Melitopol State Pedagogical University

Ekológia (Bratislava)

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Taxonomic ratio in an ecological context is considered as an indicator of the level of competitive exclusion. In spite of more than a century of discussions on...

The Ecological Interpretation of Unbiased Estimator for the Taxonomic Ratio: Different Approaches for Local and Regional Flora

Published Online: Dec 23, 2021

Page range: 348 - 356

Received: Sep 15, 2020

Accepted: Jan 17, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/eko-2021-0036

Keywords
biodiversity, competitive exclusion, species/area ratio, ecological groups, geographical distribution

© 2021 Olexander Zhukov et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The Ecological Interpretation of Unbiased Estimator for the Taxonomic Ratio: Different Approaches for Local and Regional Flora

Published Online: Dec 23, 2021

Page range: 348 - 356

Received: Sep 15, 2020

Accepted: Jan 17, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/eko-2021-0036

Keywordsbiodiversity, competitive exclusion, species/area ratio, ecological groups, geographical distribution

© 2021 Olexander Zhukov et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
biodiversity, competitive exclusion, species/area ratio, ecological groups, geographical distribution