title: Integrating macroecological metrics and community taxonomic structure.
abstract: We extend macroecological theory based on the maximum entropy principle from species level to higher taxonomic categories, thereby predicting distributions of species richness across genera or families and the dependence of abundance and metabolic rate distributions on taxonomic tree structure. Predictions agree with qualitative trends reported in studies on hyper-dominance in tropical tree species, mammalian body size distributions and patterns of rarity in worldwide plant communities. Predicted distributions of species richness over genera or families for birds, arthropods, plants and microorganisms are in excellent agreement with data. Data from an intertidal invertebrate community, but not from a dispersal-limited forest, are in excellent agreement with a predicted new relationship between body size and abundance. Successful predictions of the original species level theory are unmodified in the extended theory. By integrating macroecology and taxonomic tree structure, maximum entropy may point the way towards a unified framework for understanding phylogenetic community structure.
authors.affiliation: Energy and Resources Group, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Harte
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rominger
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistical Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14850, USA.
authors.forename: Wenyu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D049628:Body Size; D004463:Ecology / Q000379:methods*; D019277:Entropy; D008660:Metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D010802:Phylogeny; D010944:Plants; D011156:Population Density
keywords: Abundance distribution; energy equivalence; macroecology; maximum entropy; metabolic rate distribution; taxonomic tree