Title: Testing the Correlations between Beta Diversity and Productivity
Variations using NASA MODIS Global NDVI datasets

Despite considerable amount of research on the relationships between species
diversity and productivity at different spatial, ecological, and taxonomic
scales, the overall trend of the correlation at the global scale still
remains sketchy. In this study we use NASA MODIS NDVI as the surrogate of
productivity, and the World Wild Fund (WWF) species distribution data to
test correlations between beta diversity and productivity variations at
different taxonomic ranks at a global scale. Matrix correlation is performed
between species composition measured as beta diversities using Sørensen
similarity index and MODIS NDVI/productivity measured as Bhattacharyya
distances through Mantel permutation tests. The correlation coefficients and
Mantel test significance levels are reported at the global ecoregion,
biogeographical realm, and biome levels, respectively.