Environmental Science U1 Module 1 Diversity

Ecosystems and Diversity

Ecosystems and Diversity 1

Species Abundance 2
Species Diversity 2

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Environmental Science U1 Module 1 Diversity

Species Abundance
Species abundance is the number of individuals per species.
Relative abundance refers to the evenness of the distribution of individuals among
species in a community. It refers to how common or rare a species is relative to other
species in the community
Species abundance can be estimated using quadrats. The species abundance is
recorded by estimating the percentage cover or using abundance scales such as the
ACFOR (Abundant, Common, Frequent, Occasional, Rare) scale where each species
present at the site is placed in one of the categories
ACFOR Scale
A Abundant

C Common

F Frequent

O Occasional

R Rare

N None. Indicates when none of the

particular species is present. Used
when comparing species

These scales are highly subjective because different people may use different judgement
criteria.
They can be made less objective if the criteria used for placing species in each category
in standardized.

Species Diversity
Species diversity is defined as the number of species and abundance of each species
that live in a particular location.
- The definition consists of two distinct components; species richness and species
evenness.

Species Richness
Species richness is a measure of the number of different species found in a sample
location.
The more species present in a sample, the 'richer' the sample.
Species richness as a measure on its own takes no account of the number of individuals
of each species present. It gives as much weight to those species which have very few
individuals as to those which have many individuals. Thus, one daisy has as much
influence on the richness of an area as 1000 buttercups.
It is expected that the larger the sample the more species will be present in the area.
It can be calculated from the number of species per unit area.
It is simple to calculate but does not account for relative abundance.
Species diversity is different from species richness in that species diversity takes into
account both the number of species and the dominance of species in relation to one
another.

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Species Evenness
Species evenness is a measure of the relative abundance of the different species
making up the richness of an area.
Example, we might have sampled two different fields for wildflowers. The sample from
the first field consists of 300 daisies, 335 dandelions and 365 buttercups. The sample
from thesecond field comprises 20 daisies, 49 dandelions and 931 buttercups. Both
samples have the same richness (3 species) and the same total number of individuals
(1000). However, the first sample has more evenness than the second. This is because
the total number of individuals in the sample is quite evenly distributed between the three
species. In the second sample, most of the individuals are buttercups, with only a few
daisies and dandelions present. Sample 2 is therefore considered to be less diverse than
sample 1.

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Factors Affecting Species Diversity

Competition
Predation
Habitat selection (niches)
Chance extinctions
Species sorting from the regional gene pool

Calculating Species Diversity

The species diversity index is the most commonly used measure of biodiversity.
It is calculated using the species richness and the abundance of each species in the
community.

- Where
D = simpson diversity index
N = total number of individuals of all species present
n = total number of individuals of a particular species
= is the sum of
In general, species diversity is greater in environments where pollution levels are low
and abiotic conditions are not very harsh.

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