Ref ID : 1210
Morisita Masaaki; Measuring of interspecific association and similarity between communities. Mem.Fac.Sci.Kyushu Univ.,Ser.E(Biol.) 3(1):65-80, 1959
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Many indices based on the quadrat sampling have been deviced for determining the degree of interspecific association and also of similarity between communities. However, almost of them have a disadvantage that the values obtained are considerably influenced by the average number of individuals per quadrat as has been partly noticed by Nash (1950). As the consequence, the interpretations of the results obtained through the use of these indices dealing with the analysis of interspecific relationships, grouping of samples or species, ordination of communities and etc. might sometimes be erroneous, since it may happen that a difference between the index values is nothing but a reflection of the difference between densities per quadrat, not of the true relation between two species or between two samples. In this paper, new indices for measuring the interspecific association and similarity between communities which are almost unaffected, though not perfectly, by the average density per quadrat shall be given, and they may be useful in applying to the studies of population and community ecology.