Abstract

The relative importance of deterministic processes versus chance is one of the most important questions in science. We analyze the success of variance partitioning methods used to explain variation in β-diversity and partition it into environmental, spatial, and spatially structured environmental components. We test the hypotheses that 1) the number of environmental descriptors in a study would be positively correlated with the percentage of β-diversity explained by the environment, and that the environment would explain more variation in β-diversity than spatial or shared factors in VP analyses, 2) increasing the complexity of environmental descriptors would help account for more of the total variation in β-diversity, and 3) studies based on functional groups would account for more of the total variation in β-diversity than studies based on taxonomic data. Results show that the amount of unexplained β-diversity is on average 65.6%. There was no evidence showing that the number of environmental descriptors, increased complexity of environmental descriptors, or utilizing functional diversity allowed researchers to account for more variation in β-diversity. We review the characteristics of studies that account for a large percentage of variation in β-diversity as well as explanations for studies that accounted for little variation in β-diversity.

Degree

College and Department

Life Sciences; Biology

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