In research handling entire populations, sampling a part of a population is done in order

to represent the whole population. The data will be used to extrapolate and represent for the
whole population. Sampling the whole population in a research or in an experiment is impossible
due to hindrances in time, expense and sheer number of objects. Statistical sampling is done by
dividing the whole population into groups, taking representative section of the population which
will be known as the subset and using statistical tests to ensure that the subset will become the
best representative for the whole population.
Terrestrial sampling is an ecological technique used in examining the organisms in a
given area. The organisms dealt with this experiment are sessile or non-motile organisms, which
are easier to handle or count in the case of this experiment. This experiment utilized the quadrant
method of terrestrial sampling. Quadrant method is based on parting the whole plane into
quadrants or plots. In general, a series of squares or quadrants of a set size are placed in the area
of interest and the species within these quadrants are identified, counted, and recorded. This
technique allows the define the diversity of organisms at the habitat of interest.
Species diversity is an important characteristic of biological communities. Diversity is
based on the number of species in the community, which ecologists usually call species richness,
and; the relative abundance of species, or species evenness. Species richness has a great
influence on the diversity of the community. A community that has 20 species is less diverse as
compared to a community that has 80 species. Furthermore, diversity provides more information
about the composition of the community than simply species richness because it also takes into
consideration the relative rarity and commonness of different species in the community. The
ability to quantify diversity this way is an important tool for ecologists that are trying to
understand the structure of the community of interest.
Diversity or order is measured with the use of Shannon-Wiener diversity index, which is
characterized by the number of individuals observed for each species in the ecosystem. It is often
used in the study of a random sample from a larger community. The value of the index varies
from a minimum of zero, for communities with only a single species, and increases to values
close to one for communities that have more species richness and species evenness. This can be
p
pi log( i)
computed using the following equation:

H =

where pi is the proportion or average of

i=1

individuals or counts, and; k is the number of groups. Evenness, the diversity value compared to
the maximum possible diversity, can be measured using Pielou's evenness index, which is
computed using the following equation:
index, and; S is the total number of species.

J=

H
ln S

were H is the Shannon-Wiener diversity

Simpson's index of dominance is used to measure the richness and evenness of each
species in the community. This measures the chance that if two organisms are taken from the
environment they will be members of the same species. Therefore, in Simpson's index of
dominance is a community with high diversity will have a low dominance value. An index value
that is close to one implies that one species dominates the community completely, and
consequently, and a small value that is close to zero implies a more uniform distribution of
k

individuals among the species. This can be computed using the equation:

D= ( p 2i ) where p
i
i=1

is the proportion or average of individuals or counts, and; k is the number of groups. To get the

value of true diversity, the equation:

1
=
D

1
k

( p 2i )

can be used.

i=1

References:
National Instutite of Standards and Technology. Shannon diversity index. Retrieved on 25 Feb
2015, from http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/software/dataplot/refman2/auxillar/shannon.htm
National Instutite of Standards and Technology. Simpson diversity index. Retrieved on 25 Feb
2015, from http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/software/dataplot/refman2/auxillar/simpson.htm