News tagged with species diversity

Species diversity is an index that incorporates the number of species in an area and also their relative abundance. It is generally a much more useful value than species richness.

The most common index of species diversity is a family of equations called Simpson's Diversity Index[1].

Here is one such example

D = (n / N)2

Where n is the total number of organisms of a particular species and N is the total number of organisms of all species.D is the value of diversity. It can range between 0 and 1, whre 1 is the richest an Ecosystem can possibly be.

Humans have a huge effect on species diversity; the main reasons are: - Destruction, Modification, and/or Fragmentation of Habitat - Introduction of Exotic Species - Overharvest - Global Climate Change

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