need suggestions for spp richness analysis

[jeff_stratford]

I'd appreciate some feedback for a problem I'm having.

I'd like to use estimated species richness (SR) rather than observed SR to model SR and landscape attributes.

I have 2 years of point count data with 2 samples each year. There are 520 points total. Unlike most studies, I'd like to use the point rather than the route (50pts/route) as the sampling unit. So I'd like to have 520 estimates of species richness.

Someone had suggested using the CAPTURE module of MARK and I think he's right on.

The way I'm setting up the data is

/*site1,sp1*/ 1010 1 0 0 0 0 0....[zeros out to column 520];
/*site1,sp2*/ 1110 1 0 0 0 0 0....[zeros out to column 520];
/*site2,sp1*/ 0100 0 1 0 0 0 0....[zeroes out to col 520];
.
.
.
/*site520,spX*/ 1111 [first 519 columns have zeros]...1;


I just wanted to double check and get other opinions before I proceed.

Thanks, Jeff

[bhudgens]

You might look into program SPECRICH available from the Patuxent Wildlife lab. It has a different input, but I've used it to estimate insect species richness from repeated point samples.

-Brian