OPS 2-3
Biodiversity and abundance estimation from hierarchical multi-species abundance models across the NEON domain
The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a long-term observatory designed to
quantify consequences of ecological change including climate and land use change. NEON's data
products include estimates of abundance, density, and taxonomic diversity. These fundamental
parameters of population, community, and macroecology have the potential to both respond to and
effect ecosystem function, but spatial or temporal comparisons are often hindered due to lack of standard
measurement techniques. By using a common protocol, NEON will generate standardized indices of relative abundance and observed diversity for a variety of terrestrial and aquatic taxa ranging from microbes, to insects, to vertebrates. However, even after accounting for sampling methodology, these estimates may be biased due to unmodeled variation in detection probability among species, technicians and habitats.
Results/Conclusions
Here, we overview current methodology for derived estimates of population abundance, density, and
diversity that incorporate modeled observation error using hierarchical abundance models.
Abundance and diversity estimates based on prototype sampling at select NEON sites are displayed.