Dominance and Diversity
• Dominant – most conspicuous and
Uses of Dominance
• Used to characterize plant communities,
habitat types and ecological sites
• Help identify system responses to climate and
disease
• Useful for management
• Dominants as indicators of proper management
Dominance
abundant species
• Dominance – relative importance of a
species related to degree of influence it has
on ecosystem components
– Soils, other plants, animals
• Based on competition for resources
– Light, water, nutrients, space
• Difficult to measure belowground influence
Determining Dominance
• Can be species, functional group, or plant
life form based
• Use several vegetation measures to arrive
at dominant species
– Frequency, density, biomass, cover
Determinates of Diversity
In general:
IF  environmental complexity,
THEN  species diversity
1
 Species Richness
• Species richness - # of species
– Done several times of year due to different
phenologies
– Labor intensive
• Subsample using quadrats

transect

quadrat 1965

Species Richness
**Can use line-point
method supplemented
by thorough searches
for other species

Increase in # of species:
1. Sampling more individuals increase chances of new species
2. Larger area is more environmentally heterogenous
Herrick et al. 2009
Volume II
Gurevitch et al. 2006,The Ecology of Plants

Species Richness Species Evenness

• Species evenness – relative abundance of species
• HOWEVER, quadrat size depends on what
plants are sampled
– Trees v. grasses v. mosses

2
 Measuring Diversity Calculating Diversity
• Simpson’s Index:
• Incorporates species richness and evenness s
• Based on either: D = Σ (pi2)
i=1
– # individuals
– biomass • D = Value of Simpson’s diversity index.
• pi = proportion of individuals in the ith
species.
• s = # of species

Calculating Diversity Calculating Diversity

• Simpson’s Index:
s s • Inverse of Simpson’s Index
D = Σ (pi2) D = Σ ni(ni-1)
i=1 i=1
N(N-1) D
• D = Value of Simpson’s diversity index. – As index increases, diversity decreases
• ni = # of individuals (or biomass) in the ith
species.
1
• N = total # of individuals or total biomass for all D
species.
– As index increases, diversity increases

Advantages and Disadvantages Calculating Diversity

of Simpson’s Index • Shannon-Wiener Index:
• Does not require all species be s
H’ = - Σ pi x ln(pi)
represented i=1

• Measures chance that two individuals are
from same species
• Sensitive to changes in common species
• Weighted towards most abundant species
• Opposite of dominance
• H’ = value of S-W diversity index.
• pi = proportion of individuals in the ith
species.
• ln = natural logarithm.
• s = Number of species in community.

3
 Calculating Diversity Advantages and Disadvantages
• Shannon-Wiener Index:
Shannon-Wiener’s Index
s s • All species must be represented
H’ = - Σ ( Ni ) x ln ( Ni )
n n
H’ = - Σ pi x ln(pi)
i=1 i=1
• Relatively easy to calculate
• Sensitive to changes in rare species
• H’ = value of S-W diversity index.
• ni = # of individuals (or biomass) in the ith
species.
• N = total # of individuals or total biomass
• ln = natural logarithm.
• s = number of species in community.

Ch. 13
Diversity and Productivity
Diversity and Productivity
Great Smoky Mtns. North Dakota grassland

Grasslands & forest - Estonia Fen in United Kingdom

Gurevitch et al. 2006,The Ecology of Plants

Diversity and
Productivity Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis

Connell 1978