Calculating Evenness
- First determine the total number of habitats present. For the Smoky Pines Refuge Above, there are 4 habitats.
- Calculate the proportional representation of each habitat (p i ). ...
- Square all these proportions (p i ’s) and sum these squares, i.e. ...
- Now take the reciprocal of this, i.e. 1/ ∑ p i2 . Here that would be 1/0.255 = 3.92. ...
- Now to get evenness (E), we just divide D by the total number of habitats present (which is the maximum possible value for D). ...
How do you find the evenness of a species?
Divide Shannon’s diversity index H by natural logarithm of species richness ln (S) to calculate the species evenness. In the example, 0.707 divided by 1.099 equals 0.64. Note that species evenness ranges from zero to one, with zero signifying no evenness and one, a complete evenness.
What is the maximum possible value of speciation evenness?
Species evenness. Where is the number derived from the Shannon diversity index and is the maximum possible value of (if every species was equally likely), equal to: J' is constrained between 0 and 1. The less evenness in communities between the species (and the presence of a dominant species), the lower J' is.
How do I calculate species richness?
A worked step by step method using Excel is available. Species richness is the number of species present in the forest. For small datasets it can be calculated by counting the number of species in your forest manually. For larger datasets we provide a worked example.
What is species richness and species evenness?
Species richness is the number of species present in the forest. For small datasets it can be calculated by counting the number of species in your forest manually. For larger datasets we provide a worked example. Species evenness describes the relative abundance of each species.
How do you calculate species richness?
Species richness may be measured by dividing the total number of species by the total area of the defined ecosystem.
What is species evenness example?
Species evenness refers to how close in numbers each species in an environment is. Mathematically it is defined as a diversity index, a measure of biodiversity which quantifies how equal the community is numerically. So if there are 40 foxes and 1000 dogs, the community is not very even.
What is species richness and species evenness?
Diversity is measured by two main components: species richness (the number of species present), species evenness (how relatively abundant each of the species are). Additionally, species composition (which particular species are present) is often measured.
How do you calculate species diversity?
Calculate the proportion (pi) of each species - divide the number of individuals in a species by the total number of individuals in the community. For each species, multiply the proportion by the logarithm of the proportion. Sum all the numbers from step 2. Multiply the sum by -1.
Which of the following correctly describes species evenness?
Correct answer: Species evenness is a measure of diversity that takes into account the relative proportion of different species in a given area.
What is Shannon evenness index?
The Shannon evenness index, abbreviated as SEI, provides information on area composition and richness. It covers the number of different land cover types (m) observed along the straight line and their relative abundances (Pi). It is calculated by dividing the Shannon diversity index by its maximum (h (m)).
How do you calculate relative richness and species abundance?
You can calculate species relative abundance byTotal Number of Individual species (Isi) divided by Total Number of Species Population ( ∑ Nsi) multiply by one hundred (100).
Is the first refuge more at risk from invasive species than the second?
One can easily imagine that the first refuge would be more at risk from invasive species than would the second. For this reason, it is important to think of habitat heterogeneity both in terms of the numbers of habitats and the equitability of those habitats. Our analysis will attempt to separate the two.
Is 100 species more diverse than 10?
An area with 100 plant species (richness = 100) is considered to be more diverse than an area with only 10 species (richness = 100). But an area with 100 species where each species is reasonably well-represented would also be considered more diverse than an area where 99% percent of the plants are a single species and the other species are all very ...
What is species evenness?
Species evenness is a measure of the relative abundances of species within a community.
What is the Native Species Evenness Metric?
The diversity of species in an area depends on both the number of species observed (species richness) and their total numbers, and evenness refers to the relative abundance of species. Evenness is high if all species have similar distribution (i.e., similar population density) (Baker and Savage, 2008 ). The parameter NSEM was calculated as the ratio of the Simpson's Diversity Index and the maximum Simpson's Diversity Index ( Baker and Savage, 2008 ). To create the expert opinion or observed NSEM, the calculated NSEM was altered by adding a random number between ± 0.5 to each NSEM measurement.
What does Dmax mean in a Simpson index?
where D stands for the Simpson index of species diversity and Dmax stands for the maximal value of the index, which is the species richness of the sample (for the reciprocal form). The Simpson index is strongly influenced by the evenness of the species distribution, and it is weakly affected by species richness.
Is a three species community more diverse?
So for instance, a three-species community in which each species has 33% of the individuals would be considered more diverse (higher evenness) than another community with the same three species but in which one species constitutes 95% of the community.
Is the Simpson index stable?
Despite an increase in species richness during the vegetation season, the Simpson index remains stable with almost no response ( Fig. 3 ). Due to the trend of high correlation between the Simpson index and equitability, there is no reason for a parallel increase of the index in accordance with species richness.
Species Richness
Species richness is the number of species present in the forest. For small datasets it can be calculated by counting the number of species in your forest manually. For larger datasets we provide a worked example.
Species Evenness
Species evenness describes the relative abundance of each species. Once you have measured the area of each species in your forest you can see how evenly they are distributed. The percentage area of the most dominant species can be helpful in understanding evenness. A worked example is available.
The Shannon Index
The Shannon Index combines species richness and evenness into a single indicator. You can calculate the Shannon Index in Microsoft Excel or other statistical software.
What is species evenness?
Species evenness refers to how close in numbers each species in an environment is. Mathematically it is defined as a diversity index, a measure of biodiversity which quantifies how equal the community is numerically. So if there are 40 foxes and 1000 dogs, the community is not very even.
What is the meaning of the Hurlburt's evenness index?
e.g. Hurlburt's evenness index . S is the total number of species. Species evenness requires ecologists to know the abundance of species relative to other species in a given community. The methods used to measure abundance are area-based counts, distance methods, and mark-recapture studies.

Diversity, Richness, and Evenness
Calculating Evenness
- A number of different metrics are available for calculating evenness (and diversity). We’ll use a common index of evenness called Simpson’s E. Here’s the step-by-step recipe for Simpson’s E. 1) First determine the total number of habitats present. For the Smoky Pines Refuge Above, there are 4 habitats. 2) Calculate the proportional representation o...
Using Hierarchical Data
- The landcover data for the actual refuges look like the data above, except that the habitat classifications are hierarchical – that is, there are broader scale classifications and finer scale classifications. To see which of these is more important for predicting plant invasion, we’ll calculate habitat richness and evenness at both levels of the hierarchy. Here’s a real dataset fro…