nestedness

[Ken Kinman]

    I haven't seen any responses yet, so I'll give it a try.   The way I
understand it, nestedness is a non-random pattern of species distributions
across a series of islands (or islands of habitat) where the islands with
the fewest species tend to contain only the most widespread species, but
perhaps more importantly (and less intuitively) the less widespread species
tend to occur only on islands that are the most species rich.
     Not surprisingly, it is the larger islands that tend to be more species
rich, although there are no doubt exceptions.  Anyway, I think nestedness is
particularly important to conservationists as mankind continues to fracture
habitats into smaller and smaller islands.
    ------ My two cents worth,
                     Ken
*****************************************
>From: Gianluca Polgar <polgar at ALFANET.IT>
>To: TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG
>Subject: nestedness
>Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 00:11:40 +0200
>
>Dear all,
>
>May anyone explain me the exact meaning of a 'nestedness distribution of
>species'?
>
>Thanks
>
>Gianluca
>
>Gianluca Polgar
>c/o prof L. Bullini
>Via Giuseppe Andreoli, 2
>00195, Roma
>Italia


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