Evaluating Functional Diversity: Missing Trait Data and the Importance of Species Abundance Structure and Data Transformation

摘要: Functional diversity (FD) is an important component of biodiversity that quantifies the difference in functional traits between organisms. However, FD studies are often limited by availability trait data and indices sensitive to gaps. The distribution species abundance data, its transformation, may further affect accuracy when incomplete. Using existing approach, we simulated effects missing gradually removing from a plant, ant bird community dataset (12, 59, 8 plots containing 62, 297 238 respectively). We ranked values calculated full datasets then our increasingly incomplete compared ranking original virtually reduced assess used on with data. Finally, tested without effect per plot or whole pool species. became less accurate as amount increased, loss depending index. But, where transformation improved normality were more than before transformation. therefore completeness can even mitigate Since pool-wise plot-wise depends distribution, method should be decided case case. Data given careful consideration designing, analysing interpreting studies, especially missing. To this end, provide R package “traitor” facilitate assessments