THE SAMPLE SIZE-RICHNESS RELATION - THE RELEVANCE OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS, SAMPLING STRATEGIES, AND BEHAVIORAL VARIATION

Recent discussions of the relation between sample size and assemblage richness suggest that researchers should control for that relation bef ore behavioral interpretations of richness levels can proceed. We sugg est that such automatic decisions should be avoided because a strong c orrelation between sample size and richness alone is not sufficient ev idence for dismissing behavioral factors as the primary causes of the variation in richness. Instead, we must first explore the causes of th e observed variation in sample size and the relation of those causes t o our research questions.