Sampling curves in ecology: Theory and application

The working group is founded on the proposition that various empirical 'sampling curves' such as species-area, species-time, can be derived from a simple sampling curve by incorporating the patchy nature of communities in space and time. Its participants have made recent advances in theory which link together two or more types of sampling curve. The group has four phases. In the first and second phases, we will put the 'state of the art' into the context of a framework that identifies two types of distortion of a basic sampling curve: the island model and the landscape model. In the third phase we will use this framework to combine the approaches of the island and landscape models into unified theory. In the fourth phase we will explore the practical implications of a unified theory for conservation. The end result will be an edited volume, Sampling Curves in Ecology: Theory and Application.