Power Laws Govern the Abundance Distribution of Birds by Rank

Simple Summary There are a lot of only a few kinds of birds. Scientists want to describe this fact with the right statistical distribution. Most of the time, the lognormal distribution is used. A new study, however, finds that the number of bird species is best described by a log left-skewed distribution. For the same set of data, we examine the rank abundance distribution rather than the species abundance distribution. In this case, the number of birds in each rank is based on a power law distribution.Abstract Only a few bird species are abundant. Understanding the abundance distribution of bird species is critical for conservation efforts because rare species may be more vulnerable to habitat loss, climate change, and other threats. According to new data, a log left-skewed distribution, rather than a lognormal distribution, better adjusts to the abundance distribution of bird species. We look at the rank abundance distribution rather than the species abundance distribution that use the same data and find three power laws: for the top four species; for the abundant species minus the top four; and for the rare species.