A consistent terminology for quantifying species diversity?

There is a genuine need for consensus on aclear terminology in the study of species diversity giventhat the nature of the components of diversity is the subject of an ongoing debate and may be the key to understanding changes in ecosystem processes. A recent and thought-provoking paper (Jurasinski et al. Oecologia 159:1526, 2009) draws attention to the lack of precision with which the terms alpha, beta, and gamma diversity are used and proposes three new terms in their place. While this valuableeVort may improve our understanding of the diVerent facetsof species diversity, it still leaves us far from achieving aconsistent terminology. As such, the conceptual contribution of these authors is limited and does little to elucidate the facets of species diversity. It is, however, a good startingpoint for an in-depth review of the available conceptsand methods.