測量生物多樣性的傳統(tǒng)方法在判斷海洋生態(tài)時,，很可能錯過一些重要的方面，從而在熱帶水域保護工作上導(dǎo)致錯誤的關(guān)注方向。
為了量化一個特定區(qū)域的生物多樣性，研究人員常通過觀察測量生活在這一區(qū)域的不同物種的數(shù)量加以判斷。但在近日發(fā)表于《自然》雜志上的一篇論文中,，澳大利亞塔斯馬尼亞大學(xué)的生態(tài)學(xué)家Rick Stuart-Smith和他的同事展示了一種截然不同的測量方法。
利用潛水員在全球1844個觀測地點獲得的4357組對珊瑚礁魚類的調(diào)查數(shù)據(jù)，研究小組認為,，在衡量某一特定區(qū)域不同物種的豐富性和“功能特征”時,，不能僅僅通過每個地區(qū)物種的數(shù)量進行判斷，還要考慮到這些地區(qū)物種的“功能多樣性”,，例如：這些生物的食物鏈結(jié)構(gòu)以及它們棲息地周邊的環(huán)境,。Stuart-Smith稱這種新方法是對不同多樣性概念的有益補充。
Stuart-Smith說：“這種方法是一種行之有效的測量辦法,，因為與傳統(tǒng)的生物多樣性判斷相比,，它與生態(tài)進程的關(guān)系更加緊密。人們通常認為,，在特定的系統(tǒng)中,，更多的物種能夠轉(zhuǎn)化出更多的自然功能，然而特定的物種并不是在任何系統(tǒng)中都會起到相同的作用,，與成千上百的種群相比,，通常在這些物種中，可能只有一兩個物種一直擔(dān)任相同的使命,。”
當(dāng)研究人員繪制標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的物種豐富度圖冊時,，熱帶水域物種高度多樣化的經(jīng)典模式與較冷卻水域中相對較少的生物多樣性會進行相互對比。但是,，當(dāng)研究人員利用上述辦法測量功能多樣性時,，圖冊在熱帶地區(qū)顯示的熱點要少很多，而熱帶區(qū)域以外的一些區(qū)域相比許多熱帶觀測點則表現(xiàn)出更大的生物功能多樣性,。 研究人員說,，這種新方法可能有助于識別那些之前沒有認識到但是需要進行保護的區(qū)域（生物谷Bioon.com）。
生物谷推薦的英文摘要
Nature doi:10.1038/nature12529
Integrating abundance and functional traits reveals new global hotspots of fish diversity
Rick D. Stuart-Smith,，Amanda E. Bates,，Jonathan S. Lefcheck，J. Emmett Duffy,，Susan C. Baker，Russell J. Thomson,，Jemina F. Stuart-Smith,，Nicole A. Hill，Stuart J. Kininmonth,，Laura Airoldi,，Mikel A. Becerro，Stuart J. Campbell,，Terence P. Dawson,，Sergio A. Navarrete，German A. Soler，Elisabeth M. A. Strain,，Trevor J. Willis & Graham J. Edgar
Species richness has dominated our view of global biodiversity patterns for centuries1,， 2. The dominance of this paradigm is reflected in the focus by ecologists and conservation managers on richness and associated occurrence-based measures for understanding drivers of broad-scale diversity patterns and as a biological basis for management3， 4. However,， this is changing rapidly,， as it is now recognized that not only the number of species but the species present， their phenotypes and the number of individuals of each species are critical in determining the nature and strength of the relationships between species diversity and a range of ecological functions (such as biomass production and nutrient cycling)5. Integrating these measures should provide a more relevant representation of global biodiversity patterns in terms of ecological functions than that provided by simple species counts. Here we provide comparisons of a traditional global biodiversity distribution measure based on richness with metrics that incorporate species abundances and functional traits. We use data from standardized quantitative surveys of 2,，473 marine reef fish species at 1,，844 sites， spanning 133 degrees of latitude from all ocean basins,， to identify new diversity hotspots in some temperate regions and the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean. These relate to high diversity of functional traits amongst individuals in the community (calculated using Rao’s Q6),， and differ from previously reported patterns in functional diversity and richness for terrestrial animals， which emphasize species-rich tropical regions only7,， 8. There is a global trend for greater evenness in the number of individuals of each species,， across the reef fish species observed at sites (‘community evenness’)， at higher latitudes. This contributes to the distribution of functional diversity hotspots and contrasts with well-known latitudinal gradients in richness2,， 4. Our findings suggest that the contribution of species diversity to a range of ecosystem functions varies over large scales,， and imply that in tropical regions， which have higher numbers of species,， each species contributes proportionally less to community-level ecological processes on average than species in temperate regions. Metrics of ecological function usefully complement metrics of species diversity in conservation management,， including when identifying planning priorities and when tracking changes to biodiversity values.
