Response to Comment by Volkov et al. on "Computational Improvements Reveal Great Bacterial Diversity and High Metal Toxicity in Soil"
Jason Gans,
Murray Wolinsky,
John Dunbar*
Volkov et al. claim that significant conclusions about the total number of species (S) cannot be made because different abundance models cannot be distinguished and the sensitivity of the chi-square measure to changes in estimates of S is low. We point out that currently available data do not support these claims.
Bioscience Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87501, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jdunbar{at}lanl.gov