Functional tools for increasing the accuracy of biodiversity assessment

Biodiversity is recognized as one of the most important indicators for environmental assessment. However, no scientific consensus has been reached about how to properly measure and monitor it. This is mainly due to the multivariate nature of biodiversity. To overcome this issue, we propose a new methodological approach for monitoring biodiversity introducing a functional approach to diversity profiles. Indeed, the latter may be naturally considered as functional data because they are expressed as functions of the species abundance vector in a fixed domain. Specifically, several functional tools are developed such as the derivatives, the radius of curvature, the curve length, the biodiversity surface, and the volume under the surface. Each functional tool reflects a specific aspect of biodiversity. Thus, the combined use of them provides a useful method for identifying areas of high environmental risk, with the potential to address the monitoring of environmental policies. The main purpose of this research is to provide specialists and scholars with additional tools to improve the understanding of the dynamics of biodiversity.