Biodiversity Pro and EstimateS

by RUB EN PA LA C IO

Here we have two of the best software for measuring biodiversity parameters to assess species richness, like the famous accumulation species curve, and lots of indexes like the Shannon-Wiener, Simpson and Margalef. Also you can measure B diversity with the Jaccard similarity index and other indexes. EstimateS has the ChaoJaccard Index, which according to Chao et al. 2005 has been shown to reduce substantially the negative bias that undermines the usefulness of traditional similarity indexes, especially with incomplete sampling of rich communities. I have reviewed this paper and the statistics look robust.

I find that Biodiversity Pro is more intuitive and you can get your indexes really fast. Estimate S is more tricky and you need to get used to the way to enter information, but once you get its easy as well. One thing you must remember is that none of this software is useful if you dont have a crystal clear view of what you want to do with the information obtained. Also you need to be confortable with the terminology and how the indexes work. If you know this stuff, then working with any of these programs is easy cake. What I dont like about Biodiversity pro though is that it hasnt been updated since 1997. And thats a long time. By contrast Estimate S is and the last version 8.20 is from 2009. I feel more confident using a software that is obvious the developers are

paying a lot attention to it. I suggest you try both programs and take your own decision.

Ok.. .ready? Here you can download Estimate S (Requires prior registration) http://viceroy.eeb.uconn.edu/estimates/EstimateS Pages/EstimateSRegistration.htm And here is the link to Biodiversity Pro http://gcmd.nasa.gov/records/NHML_Biopro.htmlht
tp://www.rubenpalacio.com/biodiversity-conservation/biodiversity-pro-andestimates/
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