1. What is a “lognormal” distribution? Have you heard this kind of a distribution under a different name?
Lognormal distribution is a distribution of relative abundances of species by plotting the abundance of species as a frequency distribution in which each abundance interval is twice the preceding one (1, 2, 4, 8).
-It is a statistical expectation
-Product of many random environmental variables acting on the population of species
2. Why would a species survey with a greater sample size show a more complete lognormal distribution than a survey with a smaller sample size?
3. What two factors are considered in a quantitative diversity index? How do these factors differ from each other?
4. Explain how environmental heterogeneity can generate both aquatic and terrestrial plant diversity.
5. Consider the intensity of some disturbance in a community along a gradient (low… medium… high intensity). Use a “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” analogy to explain how species diversity can be shaped by disturbance along such a gradient.