Species Richness and Evenness

Question 1

What are they both a measure of?

Answer 1

• Species biodiversity

Question 2

What is Species Richness?

Answer 2

• The number of different species present in area/ecosystem.

Question 3

What is species Evenness?

Answer 3

• A measure of the relative numbers (abundance) of individuals in each species in an area/ecosystem.

Question 4

What does a high species evenness indicate?

Answer 4

• High biodiversity

Question 5

What does a low species evenness indicate?

Answer 5

• Indicates dominance of one or a few species

Question 6

What similarities do Species Richness and Species Evenness have?

Answer 6

• Both are measures of species biodiversity
• both are used to calculate Simpson’s Index of Diversity

Question 7

What is the difference between Species Evenness and Species Richness?

Answer 7

• Species Evenness is more quantitative than Species Richness