The distribution of patch occupancy (the proportion of suitable patches occupied by a species) in ecological communities is often unimodal with a mode at minimum patch occupancy values, or bimodal with two local maxima that correspond to the minimum and the maximum patch occupancy. The bimodal distribution is predicted by a metapopulation model known as the core-satellite species hypothesis, but could also be an artifact caused by spatially restricted sampling from a unimodal distribution. A sampling artifact with the opposite effect, producing samples with a unimodal patch occupancy distribution from communities with a bimodal distribution is described here. This artifact is particularly likely to occur when the accuracy of sampling varies among species, as is often the case.

Department of Biology University of Ostrava 701 03 Brafova 7 Ostrava Czech Republic

Institute of Entomology Czech Academy of Sciences and Biological Faculty University of South Bohemia 370 05 Branisovska 31 Ceske Budejovice Czech Republic

Citace poskytuje Crossref.org