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Unit 3 Theory Notes

Diversity indices are quantitative measures that reflect the variety of species in a dataset, focusing on aspects like richness, evenness, and dominance. Key indices include Simpson's Index, which measures the probability of selecting the same species, and the Shannon-Weiner Index, which accounts for both species richness and evenness. The Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) synthesizes biological data to assess the health of aquatic ecosystems and the impact of human activities on biological integrity.

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2 views

Unit 3 Theory Notes

Diversity indices are quantitative measures that reflect the variety of species in a dataset, focusing on aspects like richness, evenness, and dominance. Key indices include Simpson's Index, which measures the probability of selecting the same species, and the Shannon-Weiner Index, which accounts for both species richness and evenness. The Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) synthesizes biological data to assess the health of aquatic ecosystems and the impact of human activities on biological integrity.

Uploaded by

Rudrajayee Sahoo
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Diversity Indices

A diversity index is a quantitative measure that reflects how many different types (such
as species) there are in a dataset (a community). These indices are statistical representations
of biodiversity in different aspects (richness, evenness, and dominance). When diversity
indices are used in ecology, the types of interest are usually species, but they can also be
other categories, such as genera, families, functional types, or haplotypes. The entities of
interest are usually individual plants or animals, and the measure of abundance can be, for
example, number of individuals, biomass or coverage.

Richness simply quantifies how many different types the dataset of interest contains. For
example, species richness (usually noted S) of a dataset is the number of species in the
corresponding species list. Richness is a simple measure, so it has been a popular diversity
index in ecology, where abundance data are often not available for the datasets of interest.

Although species richness (denoted S) is often used as a measure of biodiversity, of more


interest to ecologists and conservation biologists are diversity indices that include both
species richness and measures of abundance. Many different indices of diversity are used, but
here are the most widely known.

Simpson’s Index

Simpson (1949) developed an index of diversity which is a measure of probability--the


less diversity, the greater the probability that two randomly selected individuals will be the
same species. In the absence of diversity (1 species), the probability that two individuals
randomly selected will be the same is 1. Simpson's Index is calculated as follows:

where ni is the number of individuals in species i, N = total number of individuals of all


species, and ni/N = pi (proportion of individuals of species i), and S = species richness.

The value of Simpson’s D ranges from 0 to 1, with 0 representing infinite diversity and 1
representing no diversity, so the larger the value of D, the lower the diversity. For this reason,
Simpson’s index is often as its complement (1-D). Simpson's Dominance Index is the
inverse of the Simpson's Index (1/D)

Shannon-Weiner Index

Another widely used index of diversity that also considers both species richness and evenness
is the Shannon-Weiner Diversity Index, originally proposed by Claude Shannon in 1948. It is
also known as Shannon's diversity index. The index is related to the concept of uncertainty.
If for example, a community has very low diversity, we can be fairly certain of the identity of
an organism we might choose by random (high certainty or low uncertainty). If a community
is highly diverse and we choose an organism by random, we have a greater uncertainty of
which species we will choose (low certainty or high uncertainty).
where pi = proportion of individuals of species i, and ln is the natural logarithm, and S =
species richness.

The value of H ranges from 0 to Hmax. Hmax is different for each community and depends on
species richness. (Note: Shannon-Weiner is often denoted H' ).

Evenness Index

Species evenness refers to how close in numbers each species in an environment is. So if
there are 40 foxes and 1000 dogs, the community is not very even. But if there are 40 foxes
and 42 dogs, the community is quite even. The evenness of a community can be represented
by Pielou's evenness index (Pielou 1966):

The value of J ranges from 0 to 1. Higher values indicate higher levels of evenness. At
maximum evenness, J = 1.

J and D can be used as measures of species dominance (the opposite of diversity) in a


community. Low J indicates that 1 or few species dominate the community.

Example 22.2.1

Calculate Simpson's Index, Shannon-Weiner Index, and the Evenness Index for water birds
on two lakes: Lake A, and Lake B. There are 5 species and 25 individuals on both lakes, but are they
equally diverse?
Biological Integrity and the Index of Biological Integrity
An Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) is a synthesis of diverse biological information which
numerically depicts associations between human influence and biological attributes. It is
composed of several biological attributes or 'metrics' that are sensitive to changes in
biological integrity caused by human activities.

Biological integrity has been defined as "The ability to support and maintain a balanced,
integrated adaptive assemblage of organisms having species composition, diversity, and
functional organization comparable to that of natural habitat of the region." As a result of
evolution, each organism is adapted to the environmental conditions in its native
biogeographic region. An environment that supports an assemblage of organisms similar to
that produced by long-term evolutionary processes has high biological integrity. Changes that
result from human activities cause a divergence from biological integrity, that is, a decline in
biological condition.
Evaluating biological integrity
Creatures living in these water bodies experience the entire spectrum of environmental
conditions — physical, chemical, and biological — including stressors caused by human
activities.

In this manner, aquatic communities provide a direct, comprehensive perspective on water


quality, and lend themselves well to tools such as the Index of Biological Integrity.

Evaluating the biological integrity of a waterbody is a key part of assessing Minnesota's


water quality. Biological integrity is the ability of an aquatic ecosystem to support and
maintain a balanced, adaptive community of organisms having a species composition,
diversity, and function comparable to that of a natural habitat.

An index of biological integrity (IBI) can help scientists:

 measure the health of water creatures


 diagnose the type of stressors damaging a water body
 define management approaches to protect and restore the water's biological
communities
 evaluate how effective protection and restoration activities are

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