Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
What is the significance of the slope of regression in a species-area relationship?
Advertisements
Solution
The slope of regression measures the rate at which species richness increases as the explored area expands. Its significance is explained below:
- For Small/Limited Areas: For a limited region like a country, the value of the slope remains constant and ranges from 0.1 to 0.2, regardless of the taxonomic group or the geographic region.
- For Large Areas: When measuring the species-area relationship over vast areas, such as entire continents, the regression slope becomes much steeper, typically ranging from 0.6 to 1.2. This indicates that larger areas support a much higher rate of species accumulation.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
Give three hypotheses for explaining why tropics show greatest levels of species richness.
The 'rivet' in the rivet popper hypothesis is considered to represent the ______.
Extent of global diversity of invertebrates is shown in the pie diagram below. Choose the most appropriate alternative that the four portions (a-d) represent.

Latitudinal and altitudinal gradient is shown by which of the following habitat(s)?
Maximum species richness is observed in the ______.
In the equation: log S = log C + Z log A , S= species richness; Z = slope of line (regression coefficient); A = area; C = Y intercept. For smaller area, the value of Z ranges from ____________.
All are true regarding graph showing species richness - area relationship, EXCEPT ______.
Which of the following is an observation of Alexander von Humboldt's documented pattern in ecology?
Oxygen dissociation curve for Myoglobin has the following shape:
Which of the below mentioned regions exhibit lees seasonal variations?
Which of these is true about tropical environments?
What does the term ‘Frugivorous’ mean?
A species-area curve is drawn by plotting the number of species against the area. How is it that when a very large area is considered the slope is steeper than that for smaller areas?
Is it possible that productivity and diversity of a natural community remain constant over a time period of, say one hundred years?
Is it true that there is more solar energy available in the tropics? Explain briefly.
The relation between species richness and area for a wide variety of taxa turns out to be a rectangular hyperbola. Give a brief explanation.
Given below is an equation describing the Species-Area relationship between species richness and area for a wide variety of taxa as angiosperm plants, birds, bats etc. S = CAz
- Give a graphical representation of the given equation showing Species-Area relationship.
- What does 'S' represent in the given equation?
- What is the value of 'Z' (regression coefficient) for frugivorous birds and mammals in the tropical forests of different continents?
Distribution of diversity on earth shows that biodiversity from higher latitudes to lower latitudes ______.
For frugivorous (fruit-eating) birds and mammals in the tropical forests of different continents, the slope of the species-area relationship is found to be approximately ______.
Which of the following hypothesis suggests that ecosystems are like aeroplanes where flight safety (ecosystem functioning) may or may not be compromised, depending upon which species are being lost?
