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These different types of diversity may not be independent. There is, for example, a close link between vertebrate taxonomic and ecological diversity. [12] Other authors tried to organize the measurements of biodiversity in the following way: [13] traditional diversity measures species density, take into account the number of species in an area
The observed species richness is affected not only by the number of individuals but also by the heterogeneity of the sample. If individuals are drawn from different environmental conditions (or different habitats), the species richness of the resulting set can be expected to be higher than if all individuals are drawn from similar environments.
An example of the biodiversity of fungi in a forest in North Saskatchewan (in this photo, there are also leaf lichens and mosses). Biodiversity is the variability of life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and phylogenetic diversity. [1]
Species richness, or biodiversity, increases from the poles to the tropics for a wide variety of terrestrial and marine organisms, often referred to as the latitudinal diversity gradient. [1] The latitudinal diversity gradient is one of the most widely recognized patterns in ecology. [1] It has been observed to varying degrees in Earth's past. [2]
To demonstrate the contributions of species richness and species evenness to species diversity, consider the following hypothetical example, in which there are two meadow communities, each containing four species of butterflies. Hence, both communities have the same butterfly species richness, however their species evenness differs.
SAD is a measurement of how common, or rare species are within an ecosystem. [5] This allows researchers to assess how different species are distributed throughout an ecosystem. SAD is one of the most basic measurements in ecology and is used very often, therefore many different methods of measurement and analysis have developed. [5]
Ecosystems are complex and ecological indicators can help describe them in simpler terms that can be understood and used by non-scientists to make management decisions. For example, the number of different beetle taxa found in a field can be used as an indicator of biodiversity. Many different types of indicators have been developed.
In ecology, alpha diversity (α-diversity) is the mean species diversity in a site at a local scale. The term was introduced by R. H. Whittaker [1] [2] together with the terms beta diversity (β-diversity) and gamma diversity (γ-diversity).