2.7 | Beta diversity estimation
To clarify whether the differences in each sample diversity values
observed actually represent different species or not, we used the
package ’entropart’ version 1.6-10 (Marcon and Herault, 2015) to
calculate the beta (β) diversity (Jost, 2007; Marcon et al., 2012). This
method derives beta and alpha indices that, by being independent, remain
true to Whittaker’s multiplicative law (alpha x beta = gamma) for any
order or diversity (qD). Following this, beta represents the number of
effective communities in the sample for any factor or diversity order
(qD) considered.