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ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil Advance Access originally published online on July 30, 2008
ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 2008 65(8):1456-1461; doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsn119
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Crown Copyright © 2008. Published by Oxford Journals on behalf of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. All rights reserved

This article appears in the following ICES Journal of Marine Science issue: Marine Environmental Indicators: Utility in Meeting Regulatory Needs [View the issue table of contents]

Use of simulated data as a tool for testing the performance of diversity indices in response to an organic enrichment event

Jon Barry and Hubert L. Rees

Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory, Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR33 OHT, UK

Correspondence to J. Barry: tel: +44 1524 844113; fax: +44 1502 524569; e-mail: jon.barry{at}cefas.co.uk

Barry, J., and Rees, H. L. 2008. Use of simulated data as a tool for testing the performance of diversity indices in response to an organic enrichment event. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 65: 1456–1461.

We demonstrate how data on macrobenthic species numbers and abundance after an organic enrichment event can be simulated using the empirical Pearson–Rosenberg model in combination with further plausible ecological assumptions. The simulations were programmed in the statistical package R, using an ecological framework that included classification of species into opportunistic, tolerant, and sensitive types, together with probabilities for the occurrence of these types at any particular point in the event history. The simulations also included assumptions about the dominance of species types. The exercise was successful in that realistic, simulated datasets could be produced quickly and, because of the stochastic nature of parts of the simulation process, repeat simulations allowed variation of selected diversity indices calculated on the series to be assessed. The approach could provide a useful tool to evaluate both existing and new indicators.

Keywords: benthic communities, diversity indicators, organic enrichment, Pearson–Rosenberg, simulation

Received 23 November 2007; accepted 9 May 2008; advance access publication 30 July 2008.


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