Everything about Simpson Index totally explained
Simpson's diversity index (also known as Species diversity index) is one of a number of
diversity indices, used to measure of diversity. In
ecology, it's often used to quantify the
biodiversity of a habitat. It takes into account the number of
species present, as well as the relative abundance of each species. The Simpson index represents the probability that two randomly selected individuals in the habitat belong to the same species.
Overview
For
plant species the percentage cover in a quadrat is usually used; for
animal species, for example in a river, the number of
organisms of a species is used. The reason percentage cover is used is because it's usually very difficult to count all the individual grass plants.
The
formula for the Simpson index is:
»
Where
S is the number of species,
N is the total percentage cover or total number of organisms and
n is the percentage cover of a species or number of organisms of a species.
When using the Simpson Index for lower numbers, misleading results can be obtained, with obviously less diverse areas having a higher index than they should. One way around this when studying on land is to include bare earth as an extra species, which yields more realistic results.
The Simpson index was first proposed by the British statistician
Edward H. Simpson in a paper in
Nature in
1949.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Simpson Index'.
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