PARASITE RICHNESS SAMPLING EFFORT HOST-RANGE - THE FANCY 3-PIECE JIGSAW PUZZLE

In this article, Jean-Francois Guegan and Clive Kennedy propose an alt ernative explanation for the confounding effects of host geographical range and sampling effort on parasite species richness using pathway a nalysis procedure. They suggest that much of the species richness reve aled by sampling effort is also a reflection of host range. Thus, the total contribution of host range logically incorporates a contribution from sampling effort. The implications of indirect effects of host ra nge on richness estimates have not previously been discussed, and the authors here attempt to redress the balance. The contribution of host range to richness estimates, therefore, is a sampling effort on richne ss estimates, therefore, is a mathematical expression that does not ta ke into account the cause-and-effect nature of things.