The species–area relationship does not have an asymptote!

By M. Williamson, Kevin J. Gaston, W. Lonsdale. 2001

132 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Subfields: Ecological Modeling, Ecology, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/673dfee2f137921b8e5ab627e7f1a8ee943752de

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecological Modeling

In Ecology

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

Citations in the corpus

The island species–area relationship: biology and statistics (2012, background): “This was challenged by Williamson et al. (2001), who argued that because both species number and area are finite, the mathematical function describing the ISAR must be limited at both ends and thus there is no theoretical case for the relationship to reach an upper asymptote.”
Which function describes the species–area relationship best? A review and empirical evaluation (2009, background): “For small-scale nested-plot SARs (SAR type A) different authors have claimed a left-hand steepening or flattening of the curve (cf. Williamson et al., 2001).”
Shapes and functions of species–area curves: a review of possible models (2003, background): “The shapes of species–area curves have been discussed extensively, sometimes even fiercely, for most of the last century (e.g. Arrhenius, 1921; Gleason, 1922, 1925; Connor & McCoy, 1979; Sugihara, 1981; Connor et al., 1983; Lomolino, 2000a, 2002; Williamson et al., 2001).”
Species richness, environmental heterogeneity and area: a case study based on land snails in Skyros archipelago (Aegean Sea, Greece) (2005, background): “On small islands, an increase in species number, along with the increase in area, is usually not observed or is very erratic (the ‘small-island effect’: Niering, 1963; MacArthur & Wilson, 1967; Whitehead & Jones, 1969; Woodroffe, 1986; Lomolino, 2000; Lomolino & Weiser, 2001; Williamson et al., 2001”
Plant species richness: the world records (2012, methodology): “We extrapolated this regression to the terrestrial ice-free surface of the Earth (130 million km2: Williamson et al. 2001).”
Conservation Biogeography: assessment and prospect (2005, background): “The existence of a ‘small island’ effect appears well established (Lomolino 2000, 2002; Lomolino & Weiser, 2001), and thus must have some influence on z-values in standard linear SPAR regressions, but Williamson et al. (2001, 2002) contend that there is no evidence of an upper asymptote.”
Biogeography of the tenebrionid beetles (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae) on the Aegean Islands (Greece) (2002, background): “Lomolino & Weiser (2001) have recently proposed a possible modi®cation (the break point transformation) for both the exponential and the power functions, while Williamson et al. (2001) strongly defended the use of these functions in their linear form.”
Shapes and functions of species–area curves (II): a review of new models and parameterizations (2009, background): “…we should consider expected curve shapes when choosing a model, another important discussion is whether we can expect species–area curves to have upper asymptotes, i.e. a levelling out towards a finite number of species as the area becomes large (e.g. Williamson et al., 2001, 2002; Lomolino, 2002).”
Strong and weak tests of macroecological theory (2003, background): “For example it has been suggested that SPARs should really be logarithmic, sigmoidal, or asymptotic (such as the Michaelis‐Menton) instead of the power law (Connor and McCoy 1979, Sugihara 1981, Connor et al. 1983, Williams 1995, Lomolino 2000, 2002, Lomolino and Weiser 2001, Williamson et al. 2001”
Patterns of species richness on very small islands: the plants of the Aegean archipelago (2006, background): “As Williamson et al. (2001, 2002) pointed out, the left hand side of the species–area relationship does not exhibit a steady behaviour.”
Habitat heterogeneity overrides the species–area relationship (2008, background): “Some authors identify this mechanism as the ultimate determinant of species richness (Rosenzweig, 1995; Tews et al., 2004), at least at coarse spatial scales measured in many hectares (Williamson et al., 2001).”
Island biogeography of the Mediterranean sea: the species–area relationship for terrestrial isopods (2005, background): “Although the SIE effect exists in nature, it is still debated how common it is (Lomolino, 2000, 2002; Williamson et al., 2001; Barrett et al., 2003).”
Rarefaction method for assessing plant species diversity on a regional scale (2004, methodology): “The shape of species area curves can vary considerably from species group to species group and might have a horizontal asymptote as well, as in the case of fertilized-meadow species (Williamson et al. 2001).”
The relationship between tree size and epiphyte species richness: testing four different hypotheses (2006, background): “But additionally, the unexpected positive TS–ER relationship found in primary forest provides support for current ideas suggesting that the species–area relationship is not asymptotic (Williamson et al., 2001).”