Calculating minimum sample sizes for taxonomic measurements: Examples using Gäumann's Peronospora spore data

Abstract

Methods are presented for calculating minimum sample sizes necessary to obtain precise estimates of fungal spore dimensions. Using previously published spore-length data sets for Peronospora species, we demonstrate that 41-71 spores need to be measured to estimate the mean length with a reasonable level of statistical precision and resolution. This is further progressed with examples for calculating the minimum number of spore lengths to measure when matching an undetermined specimen to a known species. Although applied only to spore-length data, all described methods can be applied to any morphometric data that satisfy certain statistical assumptions.