McGill Brian J, Etienne Rampal S, Gray John S, Alonso David, Anderson Marti J, Benecha Habtamu Kassa, Dornelas Maria, Enquist Brian J, Green Jessica L, He Fangliang, Hurlbert Allen H, Magurran Anne E, Marquet Pablo A, Maurer Brian A, Ostling Annette, Soykan Candan U, Ugland Karl I, White Ethan P
Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Ave Dr Penfield, Montreal, QC H3A 1B1, Canada.
Ecol Lett. 2007 Oct;10(10):995-1015. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2007.01094.x.
Species abundance distributions (SADs) follow one of ecology's oldest and most universal laws--every community shows a hollow curve or hyperbolic shape on a histogram with many rare species and just a few common species. Here, we review theoretical, empirical and statistical developments in the study of SADs. Several key points emerge. (i) Literally dozens of models have been proposed to explain the hollow curve. Unfortunately, very few models are ever rejected, primarily because few theories make any predictions beyond the hollow-curve SAD itself. (ii) Interesting work has been performed both empirically and theoretically, which goes beyond the hollow-curve prediction to provide a rich variety of information about how SADs behave. These include the study of SADs along environmental gradients and theories that integrate SADs with other biodiversity patterns. Central to this body of work is an effort to move beyond treating the SAD in isolation and to integrate the SAD into its ecological context to enable making many predictions. (iii) Moving forward will entail understanding how sampling and scale affect SADs and developing statistical tools for describing and comparing SADs. We are optimistic that SADs can provide significant insights into basic and applied ecological science.
物种丰度分布（SADs）遵循生态学中最古老且最普遍的规律之一——在直方图上，每个群落都呈现出一种空心曲线或双曲线形状，即有许多稀有物种，只有少数常见物种。在此，我们回顾了物种丰度分布研究中的理论、实证和统计进展。出现了几个关键点。（i）实际上已经提出了几十种模型来解释这种空心曲线。不幸的是，很少有模型被否定，主要是因为很少有理论能做出除空心曲线物种丰度分布本身之外的任何预测。（ii）在实证和理论方面都开展了有趣的工作，这些工作超越了空心曲线预测，提供了关于物种丰度分布如何表现的丰富多样的信息。这些包括对沿环境梯度的物种丰度分布的研究，以及将物种丰度分布与其他生物多样性模式整合的理论。这项工作的核心是努力超越孤立地对待物种丰度分布，将其整合到生态背景中，以便能够做出许多预测。（iii）未来的进展将需要理解采样和尺度如何影响物种丰度分布，并开发用于描述和比较物种丰度分布的统计工具。我们乐观地认为，物种丰度分布能够为基础和应用生态学科学提供重要的见解。
