Using Lasso penalized regression (to interpret key predictors from many candidate variables) and 10-fold cross-validation modelling (to indicate reproducibility and uncertainty), within different socio-geographic settings, our results show surrogate measures of landscape biodiversity correlate with respiratory health, and rank amongst known predictors.
Furthermore, in three of the aspirating samples, the reduced biodiversity correlated with the presence of a single dominant proteobacterial genus.
Importantly, the three measurements of biodiversity correlate strongly with one another (bottom-right corner of Table 1).
While some authorities once regarded high levels of biodiversity as correlated with high systemic productivity and high stability, this view was at odds with the observation that many of the world's most highly productive systems are not very species-rich.
The comparison of the observed and estimated number of families also indicates, in agreement with the rarefaction curves, that we have observed most of the families present in all samples except for samples O and L. The Shannon index of biodiversity (H), which correlates positively with family richness and evenness, was also calculated at family level (Table S2 in SI) [54].
In the natural world, increased biodiversity is closely correlated with higher whole-system productivity – ie the rate at which energy and material inputs are translated into growth.
However, as demonstrated by mathematical models and field experiments, phytoplankton biodiversity can be correlated to increased productivity (Tilman 1981; Downing and Leibold 2002; Striebel et al. 2009).
Higher associated biodiversity is strongly correlated to planned biodiversity, meaning more diverse agricultural systems generally maintain greater levels of ecosystem services and landscape diversity (, but see Balmford et al. (2005) ).
In agricultural landscapes the amount and variety of available habitat is directly correlated with biodiversity levels.
Ideally, an indicator for biodiversity is a linear correlate to the entity or aspect of biodiversity under evaluation.
