Cupwith data for GEOG20772

Below is a map of the sampling location from the Cupwith Moor field trip for Biogeography. The overall species richness for the study across all sites (Gamma diversity) was 17 and the mean alpha diversity (the species richness at each sampling location) was 11.6. This means the overal beta diversity for the study is 17/11.6 = 1.47.

The map below has two layers, one showing species richness at each site and another showing each site’s contribution to beta diversity. The site contribution to beta diversity (SCBD) you can think of as the degree to which each site contributes counts of species that are rare or even absent from other sites such that sites with a high contribution to beta diversity support locally rarer species. The size of the markers for each site reflect the value of each diversity measure (larger = higher value).

You can toggle the layers on and off by moving the cursor over the layers icon.

Do any patterns emerge? Do sites with higher species richness also contribute to higher beta diversity?